


When Our Worlds Collide

by danceswithfandom



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Arthur is also a great brother, Bottom Arthur, Eames' arms, M/M, Mal is alive because she is awesome, Mention of drinking problem, Older Eames and younger Arthur, Sweet though and not creepy, Top Eames, Underage Sex, Yusuf is an amazing friend and publisher, also happy endings becuase they are wonderful, and Dom isn't a crazy person, and almost death pre story, because I am a secret romantic, because that's always useful info, hopefully, warnings of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-02 04:42:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1052650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceswithfandom/pseuds/danceswithfandom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur is a high school student who divides his time working and looking after his nephew and older sister. Eames is a famous author who moves back to Arthur's town after a messy break up which has also left him with a serious writers block. They're both running from something, hopefully they can slow down long enough to connect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Our Worlds Collide

**Author's Note:**

> This idea spawned after I watched Shelter for the hundreth time, some elements appear but it's mostly original. In addition this....this is going to be a long fic since I've come to terms with the fact I cannot do short stories. In this one Eames is twenty six and Arthur is seventeen, Mal, Yusuf, Dom and Robert will make appearances in later chapters. Also this is my first time writing smut, so I'm just gonna hide behind this rock until I know if it's any good or not.
> 
> This is unbeta'd by anyone but myself so all mistakes are mine. Also apologises the characterisation of Arthur is similar in another story of mine on fanfic, others will be a bit different.
> 
> I've made some changes (99% grammatical) and merged the two old chapters and the new one into one for convenience sake. I can only apologise about the long wait for an update, I've been travelling on my gap year and was too paranoid about taking my laptop with me. Hopefully the stories a little easier to read now. :)

“Order up! Two burgers and a side order of fries Arthur.”

“Got it Rich!” Arthur grabbed the two luke warm plates and span on his heels balancing them whilst gripping his pencil between his teeth. The couple at table seven seemed to be deeply engrossed in a serious conversation, the woman gave a small nod of acknowledgement without breaking eye contact with her companion, dark brown hair perfectly styled into neat bob. When he set the plate down in front of her, he took note of the set, thin line of her mouth and the stiff shoulders of her companion the way they both stopped talking when Arthur had arrived. When you’d worked in the dinner as long as Arthur had you knew when small talk and questions would be welcomed and when they would be rebuffed and these two looked like they didn’t want to be disturbed. He asked quietly about drinks, but they had already begun harshly muttering to each other and Arthur quickly retreated.

He swept his eye around the dinner, both of his tables, the one with the couple and another filled with college students laughing and messing around with each other, were still in the middle of eating. His gaze lingered on the kids in the corner, the bright spark in their eyes and their easy smiles, he was younger than them but he wondered if he’d looked older with the dark circles under his eyes.

The ding of the bell on the counter brought Arthur out of his day dream and he flushed at Frank’s raised eyebrows, making his way quickly back into the kitchen. Frank was yelling out orders to their new fry cook, a shy younger guy Lucas or...Luke...something like that. He looked like a strong gust of wind would blow him over, getting flustered more and more flustered with the amount of orders Frank called out to him.

When there was a loud clang from his direction Frank met Arthur’s eyes and rolled his, he wiped his hands on the front of his apron before picking up a large kitchen knife to cut a large chunk of beef.

“Your awful distracted tonight Arthur,” his voice competed with natural sounds of the kitchen, large round face becoming pinker by the second. “Y’all ain’t got a girl finally tucked away hav’ ya?” Arthur grinned, for some reason Frank’s southern lilt had the effect of putting him at ease – he hadn’t lived in Louisiana since he was a kid but the accent had never faded - though he chuckled at the question.

“I should be so lucky Frank,” the other man gave him a sympathetic look and grabbed a fresh bag of potatoes, slapping them down ungracefully on the table.

“If your tables are all set, you best start peeling those we need some more fries.”

Arthur grinned and moved swiftly to the counter, pouring a few potatoes on the bright yellow chopping board. “Y’know normal dinners usually just buy the packet chips,” he turned in time to see the utter look of disgust on Frank’s face.

“Yeah that’s because they can’t be assed to do it themselves, now get peeling,” Frank was so easy to wind up. Arthur peeled steadily, tension bleeding slightly from his muscles with the repetitive action. He almost didn’t notice the vibrating in his jean pocket; he cleaned his hands with a nearby kitchen towel before flipping his phone open, heart sinking at the caller I.D.

“Lisa?” Frank muttered by his shoulder. Arthur nodded mutely in response, running a hand through his hair. God he so didn’t need this right now, he was so tired he wanted to curl up on the floor “Go, Jake can cover you for a sec.”

He shot the older man a grateful smile. “I’ll be back in two minutes max I swear,” Frank nodded and turned back to his chopping, Arthur ducked out of the employee back entrance out by the rubbish bins and reluctantly hit ‘Accept’.

Lisa’s voice to a second to come through. “Artie?” her tone gave what she wanted away immediately and Arthur felt his heart sink “Are you there?”

“Yeah Li, what d’you need?” there was a pause down the end of the line, before his sisters voice crackled through again.

“Look I know it’s short notice but there’s this amazing party down out Nolan’s, like once in a life time amazing kind of party and I know it’s my day to watch Will, but like I said it’s like only a one-time event!” Arthur rubbed his eyes in frustration. It amazed him how nonchalant his sister was about leaving her kid to go to some random club.

“Li I’ve almost worked every day this week and I’ve got an paper in for tomorrow.”

“Come on little brother,” his sister whined down the phone, using the voice she used when Arthur was six and she convinced him to take the blame for smashing a favourite ornament that had belonged to their mother. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

He sighed heavily, feeling himself cave, it’s not like there was any other option, Li would go either way she’d just get one of her ‘friends’ to babysit and there was no way he wanted that. “Fine, I’ll be home in an hour.”

“The club opens in forty-five minutes, can’t you get home then?” his muscles felt stiff, lack of sleep and food all washing over him at once mixed with frustration, but like he always did Arthur felt himself just giving in.

“Fine,” he breathed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Lisa gave a little squeal down the phone. “Oh thank you Arthur, you’re best little brother ever! Like I said I promise to make it up to you!” It was all lies, Arthur knew that, it was always the same promise being broken over and over again, Arthur wasn’t naive enough to believe her.

“It’s fine,” he muttered. “Just try and be back by three this time, and make sure your phones charged and that you have money for a taxi.”

A loud huff came down the line. “God, yes mum! I’m not sure about three, Abby’s knows about this after party, apparently some big sports guys will be there! Wish me luck Artie!”

“Wait Li—“ she hung up before he could finish. He shoved his phone into his jean pocket and growled in the silent alley at the dark starless sky above him. When he moved back inside he yanked and pulled the door closed it with more force than necessary, Luke actually jumped at the sound and shirked away when Arthur stormed passed. Every conversation with his older sister ended the same way; Frank didn’t even blink when Arthur came back over with what Ari described as a ‘death glare’ on his face.

“Lisa need you again?” Arthur sliced the potatoes vigorously, and gave a small hum in response, Frank’s hand on his shoulder forced him to stop what he was doing and reluctantly turn to face the older man. “Jesus boy when was the last time went to bed at a decent hour of the night” Arthur shrugged, he couldn’t honestly remember, between the dinner, homework and taking care of the house sleep was usually either hindrance or a small luxury that he didn’t have the time to indulge in.

Frank looked concerned as his gaze swept over Arthur’s face, brow knitted together. “Your too thin boy, thinner than when you started here and that’s sayin’ somethin’.” Arthur had always been naturally skinny, but maybe he had lost more weight? “I’d give you less shifts if I didn’t think y’all would get another job and work yourself even harder,” Franks words were laced with worry and rang uncomfortably true, but they needed the money and to get that Arthur had to work.

At Arthur’s impassive face Frank seemed to give up, hand leaving his shoulder. “What time do you need to be back?”

He felt a surge of gratitude to the old man, “If I can go twenty minutes early I think she might wait that long before leaving, I’ll arrive early tomorrow,” Frank turned round back to the counter top.

“You’ll _leave_ in thirty minutes and if I see you here early tomorrow I’m gonna make you wait on the corner tables until your shift actually starts, understood,” he called gruffly over his shoulder. There were times when Arthur was reminded how lucky he was to have someone like Frank as his boss.

“Thank you,” he offered sincerely.

“Yeah yeah,” Frank mumbled. “Talk to me when you’ve finished those potatoes,” Arthur turned back and got to work as fast as he could, determined to make sure his last twenty minutes of work counted.

True to his words at 9:32 exactly Frank shoved him out of the kitchen and Arthur ran to catch the bus, he arrived home just in time to see Lisa tottering out of the door in her stiletto’s surrounded by a group of people, only two of which Arthur recognised. When she caught sight of him her face lit up in a way that Arthur could see a glimpse of his big sister behind the caked on foundation and bright red lips.

“Artie!” she threw her arms around him, Arthur could smell perfume and the sheer amount she had on made Arthur’s nose hurt. When she pulled back, wobbling slightly he could see that her eyes were already a little glassy, obviously the party had started early.

“You’re such a good little brother,” she petted his head as if he were a small child. “Guys this is my baby brother Artie, ‘cause of him I can have fun with you guys tonight. Three cheers for my little brother!” To his horror the group actually started cheering, the lights in the neighbours house flicked on at the noise, Arthur flushed in embarrassment.

“Li cut it out,” he muttered harshly. His sister just laughed in his face, he smelt the alcohol on her breath for sure this time, she stumbled slightly and Arthur instinctively caught her.

She giggled again. “God Arthur chill out, don’t be so boring,” the group snickered behind her.

“Come on babe lets go,” a guy with a bright blue Mohican pulled her back and wound an arm around her, he looked at Arthur like he was a piece of gum stuck to his shoe. “Let’s ditch this kid.”

Li snickered at him. “God you’re so rude! Alright lets go guys, bye Artie!” The group pushed past him, looking at each other, then Arthur giggling. He watched Lisa totter down the street, the groups loud, raucous laughter echoing down the street.

He wanted to go after her, to bring her back inside and put her to bed with a glass of water, but past experience had taught him that she’d resent him for stopping her going out, she would declare that she would do what she wanted and her baby brother certainly going to order her about. He wasn’t even hurt by it anymore, just turned around pushed open the door she’d forgotten to lock and stepped inside.

The smell of cigarettes hit him and he wrinkled his nose in disgust at the scent. “Is that you Arthur?” a little voice piqued, in the living room, curled up on the sofa was the little figure of his nephew. Will looked over with big, nervous eyes until he saw Arthur and a small smile graced his mouth.

“Hey munchkin,” he grinned at him. Despite the exhaustion he was genuinely happy Will’s “Why aren’t you in bed yet?”

“Lisa said I could watch a film,” Arthur sat next to the little one. Will instinctively snuggled into Arthur’s side, he put an arm around him and hugged him close, the younger boy’s hair tickled his chin. He watched Finding Nemo with him for a while, Will tried hard to stay awake but halfway through the film his head was drooping, eventually his steady breathing gave away that he was also fast asleep.

As carefully as he could, he manoeuvred Will so he could pick him up; he walked down the small corridor to the Will’s room, tucking him as gently as he could so not to wake him up. Will didn’t stir except to snuffle slightly, before he left he took one last look with a wistful smile at his nephew before he turned off the light and closed the door.  

He grabbed his backpack from where he’d dumped by the and gladly retreated to his room, closing the door was like shutting off the outside world, like a great burden had been lifted. The relief was only temporary however as he had homework for tomorrow. His stomach let out a growl which Arthur ignored, pouring the contents of his bag onto his bed he steeled himself for the inevitable two hours this essay would take.

And this was Arthur’s life, a mix of school, work, homework and babysitting with little else in-between. Ambitions and college were words that had no meaning to Arthur, his sister needed him here, they couldn’t afford the bills if Arthur stopped working, with their joint income they balanced them. Will and Leah needed him here, Li...she had her good points but she hadn’t quite got the hang of motherhood yet, if Arthur wasn’t here she’d forget to make sure they had lunch money, or they had clean clothes, or sometimes that they had school at all.

When Will was old enough to take care of himself then he’d look into college or something like that, that’s what he told himself, Ariadne, Frank and his guidance counsellor. The more they asked the more determined Arthur’s voice got, but they would always give him the same sad look that let him know they doubted his assured tone, and to be honest Arthur doubted his words too.

\-------

The next morning Arthur’s alarm jostled him out of the few hours sleep he’d managed to get, he dipped his head into Lisa’s room and found her face buried in the chest of blue Mohawk guy, his hair had sufficiently deflated during the night, for some reason Arthur found it funny.

He got Will up and ready for school, and picked up a piece of toast for himself, munching on it half heartedly. They caught the bus together, Will held on tightly to his hand as the moved round the strangers to find a free seat, he eyes flicking around suspiciously.

When the bus set off Will He dropped them off at preschool, Will made too walk straight in but seemed to lose his nerve and lingered, looking back at Arthur.

“Go on Will they don’t bite,” Arthur meant to reassure him but instead he looked even more uncertain.

“They don’t really bite do they daddy?” he asked nervously.

“Uncle,” he reminded him for the fifteenth time. “And no munchkin they don’t bite, you ready to go in?” he nodded, determination setting on his face.

“Your mom’s picking you up today remember,” they nodded. Arthur gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Have a good day guys,” he called out as Will strode towards the school. He waited until he saw Will disappear inside with one of his friends, before racing like a madman to the bus stop he managed to catch it just before it left, in doing so he got to school on time for once rather than ten minutes late as was usually the case.

He slipped into his tutor room, and walked straight towards he and Ari’s desk, his friend was already there, phone out and chewing on the end of her pencil.

He took the seat next to her. “If Mr. Jacob’s catches you with that he’ll take it,” he warned her, she shrugged not looking up from the screen.

“I’m checking with Rachel if the writers here yet,” he frowned in confusion.

“What writer?” she looked up from her phone with a look of complete astonishment, Arthur felt himself flush slightly

“The writer that’s coming in today?” Still nothing. “The famous one! Who went to this school like seven years ago?” Nope. “The reason we miss half of first period ‘cause he’s doing assembly which we’re literally about to go to?” her voice had gradually gotten higher and louder the more flabbergasted she got. The bell rang, presumably to signal the assembly with this writer guy, they got up Arthur hooking his back pack over his shoulder.

He shrugged. “I guess I forgot.”

“How could you forget it’s literally all that people have been talking all week?!” he was getting a little frustrated with her dumbfounded stare at him.

“I don’t usually listen to people talking,” half of his concentration was actually now on making sure they didn’t crash into anybody as the class moved faster than they had the entire year at school.

“It’s all I’ve been talking about all week!”

He shrugged. “Sometimes I drift off,” Ari punched him lightly in the arm.

“Some friend you are!” she muttered, but she looped her arm through his as they approached the auditorium doors. Mr. Jacobs was there sending them in a line to their seats. Ari waited until they had been sat down and the principal of their school had started his longwinded introduction to pipe up again.

“Rachel told me he’s single as well, apparently he just broke up with his girlfriend a few weeks ago,” Arthur frowned at the suggestion.

“You’re not seriously hopping this guy goes after you, it’s a little creepy,” she gave him a cheeky smile.

“Of course not! I just thought it’d be like something from a book, y’know the young author gets his heart broken and then gets swept up in a passionate love affair with a student,” she grinned wistfully he shook his head at her words.

“You better save that one for one of _your_ stories,” he sank down in his seat as the principal finished his intro and the obligatory applause began. “Plus I bet you anything he’s this sweater wearing, giant bearded, pretentious intellectual,” when Ari didn’t answer for a moment he turned to look at her and found a raised eyebrow and disbelief all over her face.

“Arthur have you ever seen a picture of this guy?” he scoffed at her.

“Of course I haven—“

“Hello there, I’m Fredrick Eames but please just call me Eames,” A British accent interrupted him and Arthur turned to look at this so called famous author. And his mouth stayed open, this time in disbelief.

Well he’d been right about the sweaters thing.

“I’m very proud to be presenting this assembly, although I admit it’s a little odd considering I’m used to being the one watching the person the school had bribed to do the assembly that week,” a murmur of laughter went through the students, even Mr. Jacobs cracked a smile.

Eames was fucking hot.

This was the only thought that had been able to process itself through Arthur’s head whilst this guy Eames had been talking. He didn’t even notice his mouth was still wide open until Ari put a hand under his chin and shut it for him. Arthur felt his cheeks burn at losing concentration, but he still couldn’t take his eyes off Eames and that reason was very simple.

Eames was fucking hot.

And yes that need repeating twice. He was talking about his days at their school which Arthur was only half paying attention, choosing instead to stare at Eames’ mouth as they formed the words. They were the kind of lips you expected to see on a girl and they should’ve looked out of place on a guy, instead they suited him perfectly and filled Arthur with the urge to trace the shape of them with his thumb. The only detail Arthur had gotten right was the jumper, a flattering shade of maroon with a white collared shirt peaking out of the sleeves, the jumper was tight enough that Arthur could see the outline of some definite muscle tone underneath.

Despite the clean outfit though the day old stumble and the poor slicked backed hair gave that untidy impression that usually was unattractive to someone like Arthur, now though he was beginning to think he’d seriously missed out.

He was so absorbed in staring at Eames eyes - he couldn’t see what colour they were from this distance, hidden behind the mans glasses and he was exceedingly curious - that he missed the fact that Ari had been whispering into his ear “...genius or something like that.”

Arthur finally managed to drag his attention away from Eames and back to Ari “What did you say?” he winced internally at how dazed he sounded.

Ari just looked thoroughly amused with him, a little smirk playing on the corners of her mouth “I was saying that apparently Rachel’s brother was in the same year as him, he was supposed to be this party guy, real ladies man but got average grades until he started writing these creative stories and they discovered he was like a literary genius or something like that,” he gave the man on stage a once over again. With the glasses, jumper and the way he’d reddened slightly at the praise Mr. Jacobs interjected with, the guy before Arthur didn’t seem like some swaggering lothario though Arthur imagined he could pull anyone he wanted.

Looks could be deceiving though, maybe that open smile was a mask and hiding behind it was something very different.

Still. “I really need to go to the bookstore,” Ari snickered at that, earning a shush from someone behind them.

“I told you he was hot!” she whispered deliberately louder than usual.

“Actually you didn’t, your exact words were ‘Arthur have you ever seen a picture of this guy?’”

“The implication was there!” she hissed. “And you can cancel your trip to the bookshop, our library has his books times three,” at Arthur’s look she explained. “He’s one of the schools success stories, of course there going to parade him.”

“This school has more than one success story?” he asked in disbelief. Their school wasn’t exactly in the ‘nice’ part of town...or actually in the ‘alright’ part of town, that someone got even slightly famous after coming from here was slightly unbelievable.

“Well there’s that one woman who became a famous lawyer or something, I think she was here for a year?”

“I’m not counting that one,” he dead-panned, the other girl rolled her eyes, blowing a stray chocolate coloured lock off her face.

“Plus he’s also one of the school’s main benefactors; he helps funds our art programme or something like that,” Arthur hadn’t known that. To be honest he didn’t pay much attention to stuff going on at their school, not to be arrogant or anything but he had more important things in his life. Now though he was starting to wish he’d paid more attention to it all.

“I’m beginning to understand your interest in English Lit now—“

“Ssshhh,” Ari interrupted him. “He’s about to do the Q/A I’ve got my questions down here somewhere,” she rifled through her backpack like a woman possessed. He took the opportunity to give Eames his full attention again.

Eames cleared his throat. “Well that’s enough of just me droning on, d’you guys have any questions?” the man had such a welcoming air about him but with an undertone of cheekiness that just drew you in closer. Immediately after asking the question five hands went up. It was the most enthusiastic Arthur had seen the rest of his school mates about a speaker since the guy who did a freelance job for the FBI one time.

“Ok how about you there in that dapper blue shirt.” _Dapper?_

“Hi there,” the voice that answered sounded positively gleeful. “I wanted to know um, in your book ‘Stranded’ where the inspiration for Anna came from?”

Eames paused for a moment, seemingly choosing the right words. “Well a lot of the inspiration for Anna comes from my twin sister Morgan, she’s basically the embodiment of the character. In fact when I had trouble with the dialogue I badgered her to come round and help me. But she hates it when I go on about her like that,” he admitted a little sheepishly, a few laughs echoed through the audience.

“Next question then?” He was almost hit in the face with Ari’s hand as it shot up. “You with the headphones,” Ari huffed disappointed next to him.

“About your latest book, ‘The Secret Life of Chameleons’, at the end of the book it’s open ended with the character of Frank getting a chance at reconciliation with his ex wife and daughter but at the same time the beer is still in the fridge indicating he could relapse, why did chose to end the book this way?” Wow Arthur was beginning to sincerely wish he’d read some of this guys books.

“It’s like real life,” Eames answered instantly this time. “Frank had been an alcoholic since he was 25 relapses often occur in those situations, it would’ve be rosy if the story had ended with Audrey forgiving Frank completely for what his drinking did to their marriage but honestly, she’d been through so much that she was willing to extend the bridge slightly but not let him back in immediately. Frank has a choice to make, he can either embrace the purpose of the road trip which was to have the chance to reconnect with his family and get his life back, or he can sink back into the simple oblivion of drink, like real life he has to make that choice himself.” Eames face lit up when he was talking about his work, if Arthur had been expecting a stuffed shirt intellectual who gave stiff impersonal answers he was proven severely wrong, Eames talked as if the characters in his book were real people, old friends. The profoundness of it was ruined slightly for Arthur by Ari muttering something along the lines of ‘Crap!’ and dropping her bag back on the floor.

“Will there be a sequel?” the student piped up again.

Eames chuckled “I don’t have any plans for one, and honestly I think sometimes it’s best to let the reader come to their own conclusions,” the student seemed satisfied with this answer. “Any more questions?”

Ari’s hand shot straight up in the air again, this time Eames gaze swept across to her and he pointed. “How about you with the yellow scarf?”

She practically bounced in her seat. “Hey, wow ok um, I was um, curious, most first time writers end up getting a load of rejection letters and wait years before their book is picked up by a publishing house but you did it within a few months! So my question is, what sort of magic did you have use to do that?” a wave of small laughter rippled round the room and Eames for his credit chuckled too.

“No magic I’m afraid. What happened was I was really lucky...and ridiculously persistent as my publisher will tell you, he was an up and comer too and when I got rejected from everywhere else including there I badgered and badgered him, even waited outside the building a couple of times, until he finally caved and agreed to read it himself. He rang me a few days later and I really thought he was going to put a restraining order on me,” another ripple of laughter. “But he ended up saying he believed in me and the boom and put all his efforts into making it a success...well him and my agent wonderful woman she is,” he smiled fondly at that. “So I guess the answer is if you believe in your work then fight for it, and hope the place doesn’t get a restraining order on you.”

Ari joined in with the chorus of laughter, everyone seemed to be thoroughly charmed by this guy, Arthur included, when he turned his attention back to the audience Eames suddenly caught Arthur’s gaze and stayed there. For a moment it was like the rest of the room disappeared, as Eames’ eyes stared straight at Arthur and Arthur stared back feeling heat rise into his cheeks. Then suddenly Eames’ gaze flicked away as if he stopped for a moment and looked directly at Arthur, Arthur himself began to doubt that had ever happened, maybe he’d simply imagined Eames’ look?

The other man went on and answered a few more questions; Ari even got one more in before Mr. Jacobs interrupted him and took the centre stage again.

“I’m afraid that’s quite enough for today you all have lessons to get to,” Arthur hadn’t realised how much charisma Eames had oozed, the minute Mr. Jacobs stepped in his place it was like the spell that had been cast over everyone disappeared and they got up from their seats, concentration transferred back to their phones or gossiping with each other.

Ariadne for her part was still buzzing with excitement, the moment they stood up she looped her arm through his and gripped tightly, talking a mile a minute.

“Wasn’t that cool?!” she gushed happily, practically skipping at this point, he smiled at her reaction.

“I didn’t know you were such a fan,” she blushed the same shade of maroon as Eames’ sweater had been.

“He isn’t one of my all time favourite authors, but come on how often do we get the chance to ask to ask a real writer questions about the business?! And it’s also well...” her body tensed slightly and she bit her lip, a nervous habit Arthur had come to recognise. “...well if Eames can make it out of a place like this and get published maybe I can too y’know?”

He unlooped their arms and instead put his arm around her shoulders. “Of course you’ll get published, they’d be stupid not too,” she looked a little more reassured at that. “You realise though that when you’re rich and famous I expect to get, at least a wing of your castle,” she laughed happily.

“You can have the basement; I’ll even make sure there are no cobwebs down there,” the tension disappeared from her body, and the cheeky smile returned. “Plus, I told you he’s hot,” Arthur shrugged feigning nonchalance.

“He was ok,” he had to laugh at the utterly incredulous look on Ari’s face, as if he’d just insulted her mother.

“Ok?!” she yelled, horrified. “He’s famous but likeable, and has that British nerd slash cutely vulnerable thing going on! He’s like a young Hugh Grant!” that description was surprisingly accurate. “And you totally have to read his books, there’s only three at the moment and ones a short but I cried during ‘The Secret Life of Chameleons’!” she started waxing poetically about the themes of the novel. If he had the book he’d probably spend at least twenty minutes stuck on the authors photograph. That whole thought process distracted Arthur substantially so it took him a minute to realise that they’d lost the rest of their class and were heading in the opposite direction to their lesson.

He stopped and Ari gave him a weird look. “Um I think we’re going the wrong way Ari,” he explained.

She looked around surprised at how far they’d gone. “Oh yeah, sorry. We better hurry, its Steane on Physics today and I swear he is just looking for a reason to give me detention!”

“Well maybe if you hadn’t dropped a record amount of beakers this term,” she rolled her eyes.

“I told him he should get handles for those things!”

He made to head back to their class but Ari suddenly froze so quickly Arthur almost fell over. “Ari are you ok?” her eyes were wide open and staring directly in front of them. “Ari,” he waved a hand in front of her face.

Just as suddenly as she’d stopped, Ari sprung to life and pulled him to the side behind some lockers, before Arthur had the chance to protest she’d slapped a hand over his mouth without taking her eyes off whatever she’d been staring at down the hall.

“Whsdhsjwasthaesgasaborbs?” he mumbled behind her hand.

“Shh,” she hissed. “The Hugh Grant writer hottie is down the hall!”

“Washhsjrealkgjtnesnshu?”

“What?”

He slapped her hand away. “I said was that really necessary?!”

“Jacobs was with him, I panicked! You never know the guy could have secret ninja bodyguards everywhere!” Arthur rolled his eyes at her and manoeuvred round Ari to look down the corridor. Sure enough Eames was in the entrance hallway with Mr. Jacobs, Eames was smiling politely and nodding, but even from where they were hiding Arthur could see the glazed and distracted look in his eyes and the way they kept flicking to the doors.

“He looks like he wants to make a run for it,” Ari whispered giggling. It was true, poor Eames, one thing Arthur had learned early on was that Jacobs loved the sound of his own voice and only the invasion of Nazi zombies could make him stop talking before he was ready. “Look at his arms Arthur! That doesn’t just come from typing all day, boy goes to the gym I bet you,” For the second time in the space of an hour Arthur found himself admiring Eames’ arms.

“Not that this isn’t fun and all but I’m starting to feel creepy spying on him, was there another reason you went all Mission Impossible on me?”

“Duh! This is the perfect chance for me to ask a couple more questions, as soon as Mr. Jacobs is out of the way.”

“We may be here for a while then,” but apparently life had decided not to be an ass today, as just as Arthur was about to throw in the towel and leave, Miss. Jenkins came over to Jacobs. Actually there were two things that could stop Jacobs from talking, and the second, was the Miss. Jenkins small sweater effect...seriously.

Jacobs attention immediately directed to her and after a nod, he made some an apology to Eames -who looked actually looked pretty grateful - and left with Miss Jenkins down the opposite corridor. Eames was left standing at the entrance hall, looking at his phone with a small frown on his face.

“Come on,” he slipped out from their hiding place and headed towards the still stationary figure of Eames, until he realised Ari wasn’t following him. He turned to find her biting her lip, still sheltered behind the lockers. “You coming this is your chance to ask him those questions.”

“But,” a blush crept into her cheeks. “...what if he thinks they’re dumb and laughs?” his heart softened and he moved back towards his friend.

“Ari you are many things, but dumb is not one of them,” she rolled her eyes.

“Gee thanks,” but a small smile threatened her lips.

“Plus,” he added. “If he does do that I’ll punch him ok?” she laughed happily and nodded. Finally stepping out from behind the lockers, she strode, with new determination and confidence to where Eames was standing, Arthur actually had trouble catching up with her.

When they got closer though, his own nerves began to falter, his mind began forming an escape plan for them both when Ari called out. “Hey Mr. Eames!” cutting off any exit Arthur had.

The other man turned at the sound of his name, confusion on his face, but also which came as a shock to Arthur a defensive stance which disappeared as soon as he laid eyes on the two of them, turning into a smile of genuine curiosity. “Hey yourself yellow scarf.”

Ari giggled slightly and blushed like a star struck teen, which she kinda was but Arthur found it amusing and made a mental note to remember it for later teasing.

“Sorry to bother you,” she played with a strand of hair. “I know you must racing to get out of here.”

Eames chuckled softly. “Not at all, It’s nice to see the place I spent so much of my time in, though it does make me feel a bit old I’ll admit.”

“No way!” Ari waved her hand “Your only twenty-six that’s not too far off us!” great Ari way to make it sound like we’re creepers.

Eames didn’t seemed to notice the creepy though because he grinned. “Trust me, that just makes me feel older,” he moved his hands to the front pockets of his jeans and Arthur defiantly did not glance down. “Was there anything specific you wanted to ask or say?” Ari seemed to snap out of her goo goo eyeing and slapped her pockets.

“Oh crap yeah,” she turned to Arthur. “I left my note book with the questions in my locker, Mr Eames would you mind if I just ask you a couple of questions?” to Arthur’s relief the other man seemed thoroughly amused by the whole situation.

“As long as you don’t plan of selling my answers to the press,” his tone was serious but Arthur could see the humour in his eyes, which now he could see were blue-grey.

Ari didn’t seem to get the joke and nodded her head eyes wide. “I promise.”

“Then that’s fine,” he grinned. “Also it’s just Eames, I may be older, but I’m not my father yet,” the smile that Ari gave him could be described as mega watt

“Kay,” she thrust Arthur her bag. “I’ll be back in two seconds don’t go anywhere,” with that she ran off at light speed down the corridor.

It only then occurred to Arthur he was now trapped with an, albeit small, celebratory who he hadn’t spoken to at all in the exchange they’d just had, and suddenly found his usually capable brain, completely empty with nothing to say.

Luckily Eames started talking first. “Is she always so....energetic?” Arthur smiled, Ari certainly knew how to make a lasting impression.

“Yeah,” Arthur slung Ari’s bag over his shoulder, he found he had to look up at Eames slightly as he had a few inches on him. “Sorry to kind of ambush you like this, the last thing you probably want is two more teenagers to deal with today,” Eames looked almost taken back by Arthur’s comment.

“Not at all, I didn’t mean that comment about your friend in a bad way, it’s very flattering. I guess I’m still not really used to it,” that was a surprise considering Ari said he got published months after leaving school.

“So, are you interested in literature?” Arthur shuffled uncomfortably, weighing the truth and bluffing that he loved it, in the end it was easier and less complicated to just tell the truth.

“I’m alright, my passion is more architecture,” he admitted a little sheepishly, to his surprise instead of switching off, Eames nodded as if he were actually interested.

“Really? That’s great I know they were wavering on adding that to the curriculum here, it’s nice to see it taken advantage of,” he smiled a little wistfully. “A lot of things have changed since I was here, except for the...interesting colour choice for the entrance here.”

“Don’t worry I bet this hideous shade of green will still be here for years to come, the way Mr. Jacobs pawns over it I think they’re having a secret affair,” Eames let out a bark of genuine laughter and Arthur glowed with a certain pride, that he’d made someone like Eames laugh.

“You’re a cheeky bugger y’know that,” he smiled warmly at Arthur.

He just shrugged. “It’s been said,” secretly thrilled.

A strange expression of fondness came over the other man’s face. “I’m sure of it,” a small lull came into the conversation, Arthur searched his brain desperately for something intelligent to say, eventually coming up short.

“I liked your presentation today,” he settled on, hey at least it was honest. “You’re way more interesting than most of the speakers we get here and your book the Chameleon one sounds great Ari’s been telling me all about it,” some of the warmth left Eames’ face, he was still smiling but this one didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Thank you,” he said with certain air of stiffness, Arthur wondered what he’d done wrong. “To be honest I was pretty nervous coming here,” the admission took Arthur by surprise again.

“Really?” he asked doubtfully. “But you seemed so confident up there.”

Again something was devoid from his expression, the openness that had been there before lessened slightly. “That just comes from practise, I loved this place for the most part but there’s also some crappy memories here as well,” for a second a dark look passed over Eames’ face but it cleared so fast Arthur doubted he’d seen it. There was no way it would take Ari this long to get to her locker, he said as much out load.

Eames waved it off. “I’m not in any rush, not like I’m going anywhere for a while,” that took Arthur by surprise.

“You’re staying in town?” the surprise must’ve shown on Arthur’s as Eames seemed to realise what he’d said and he looked a little pained.

“Yeah I’m actually going to be in town for a while; I’m trying to write a new book,” he explained a little reluctantly.

“Really?”

Eames nodded stiffly. “Yeah, don’t spread it around though,” he gave Arthur a weak smile.

The whole thing had peaked Arthur’s curiosity, he couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Just..why here? If you’re looking for inspiration it’s not exactly the nicest part of town,” Eames seemed to consider what to say, a number of emotions flittered across his face, too fast for Arthur to read.

Eventually he answered. “I just....I needed a change. My life kind got turned on its head recently,” Ari had mentioned that he’d had a break up, was that it? “Which in turn gave me the worst writer’s block of my life, getting away it all seemed such an easy solution to my problems. To be honest I kind of just ran off to escape for a bit,” he huffed in cold amusement, there was more story there, but Arthur tactfully bit his tongue and didn’t push. Eames ran a hand through his hair, dislodging the some of the locks from their slicked back style. “I probably sound like a bratty kid,” he admitted, and shuffled uncomfortably.

“No I get it!” he spoke so quickly that Eames looked a little taken aback, he blushed at his outburst, he’d just wanted to reassure the other man. “It’s just....upping and going I mean, it always seemed like such an easy way to solve everything,” he lowered his voice, looking round to make sure they were alone. ”I sometimes want to do that, just run off to New York or somewhere like that, go to school with no one’s but your own expectations on you,” it was something he’d never admitted to anyone before, not even Ari, the thought had always made him feel ashamed, he couldn’t explain why he told Eames.

It seemed to be the right thing to say though, since the tightness in Eames’ face relaxed and he his smile this time, Arthur realised, was completely genuine. “Trust me” he began. ”From personal experience I wouldn’t recommend running off to New York without a plan of where to live first,” he fished in his back pocket, bringing out a well worn black leather wallet. He took something out of it and handed it to Arthur. “Here, if you ever end up in NYC give me a call just to put my mind at rest that you’re not homeless or anything like that” he seemed sincere in his request and Arthur took the thin strip of card. It was a business one the top corner in black fancy writing read ‘Fredrick Eames’ followed by a phone number, it was a black and white stylish card, but not what he’d imagined, Eames seemed like he would have more...colours. But what did Arthur know about the guy, apart from he was gorgeous.

“Thanks,” he replied sincerely, hoping that his eyes expressed his gratitude. Eames probably handed these out to everyone he met, and he probably would forget about Arthur the moment he left those doors, still it was a nice gesture.

“You’re welcome,” Eames spoke softly, still holding Arthur’s gaze. Like before it was like there was nothing else in the world. Eames’ eyes removed everything else but the two of them, and Arthur found himself unable to look away, nor did he want to.

But the moment, or whatever it was shattered when the sound of Ari’s shoes slapped on the floor of the corridor. She was red faced and panting by the time she reached them, clutching a small leather bound note book his her hands.

“Sorry,” she wheezed, doubling over. “I swear Mr. Jacobs mad clones of himself so he could monitor us, I nearly ran into him three times getting back!” Ari recovered after a moment, pushing the hair off her face she straightened up, all business, notebook and pen and everything. She began asking him questions, well over two. Arthur tried to pay attention, but it was a lot of questions about different aspects of the business and Arthur found it hard to follow.

He was still holding onto Eames’ card, the edges poked uncomfortably in the palm of his hand. For a minute Arthur dithered on whether or not to just leave it on the table, Eames and Ari were too distracted talking they wouldn’t notice, or just fold it up and put it in his bag to be forgotten. No false hope, he wasn’t going anywhere soon, perhaps ever, this weak reminder of a life away from everything, in some other city, in another place, it would just be painful after awhile. The safe thing to do would be to just leave it.

Arthur slipped the card into his front pocket, he could just bin it when he got to work, or home, there was no rush. He’d probably forget about it and it would get ruined when he washed his jeans. Ari had finished her questions, looking satisfied as she flipped through the hastily scribbled answers within her notebook. “Thank you! You have no idea how much help this was, I loved your second book! I was in bits at the end of both, but especially in ‘Stranded’ when he’s stuck in the mental hospital still dreaming of Anna.”

Eames smiled again; he looked flattered and slightly embarrassed with the praise Ari was giving him. “It’s really alright, I don’t have another card on me now but I’ll be down for the art exhibition next week and we could talk some more then if you have other questions?”

“Really?!” Ari looked like she wanted to somersault. “That would be amazing. Thank you!” Eames flushed slightly, but offered his hand to her.

“I’m so sorry but I really have to go now, but it was lovely meeting you miss...?”

She looked ridiculously pleased at the ‘Miss’. “I’m Ariadne, oh and this...” she grabbed Arthur’s hand and pulled him back towards them. “Is Arthur,” she declared, still holding his hand.

Something seemed to flicker in Eames’ eyes at the movement, it looked like disappointment. “Well Arthur,” he began, and held out his hand. “It was very nice meeting you,” his words were slightly cooler this time, more professional for some reason it made Arthur’s heart sink.

He took Eames’ hand. “It was nice meeting you too,” the handshake was formally and over quickly, but the just through that few seconds Arthur had been able to feel that surprising warmth of Eames’ palm. He gave a final nod to both of them and left through the double doors.

Ari dropped his hand and gave Arthur a smile which seemed way too big for her small frame. “Wasn’t he brilliant, that was so sweet of him to answer so many questions! Did you notice, he’s even hotter the closer you get, can’t believe a guy like that’s single!”

“You mentioned he broke up?” Not that he cared, not at all.

“Oh yeah, I heard from Rachel he and his girlfriend spilt up like a few weeks ago, it was supposed to be like really ugly,” she looked up at him curiously. “Why d’you ask? Trying to catch the sexy author because I think you’ll have to join a line,” she winked, Arthur blushed furiously.

“Don’t be stupid of course not! We just chatted for a bit and it came up,” alright so that wasn’t strictly true but it was close enough. Ari looked even more curious, she opened her mouth but was abruptly cut off by the loud shrill of the bell.

Two seconds afterwards the hallways filled up with students, he and Ari were jostled into one of the door ways. Arthur sighed deeply. “You realise that if Jacobs hears about this he _will_ have our asses,” she wrinkled her nose.

“Can’t have that now you’re saving yours for sexy writer guy,” she grinned wickedly.

Arthur glared at her. “Can we please just get outside and try to avoid Jacobs for the rest of the day,” she huffed in amusement.

“Good luck with that, guy’s got eyes everywhere!” Just as soon as the words left her mouth, the figure of Mr. Jacobs cut through the stampede of pupils.

“Hansen, Page!” he yelled. “Why were the two of you absent from first period?!”

“Well its official,” Ariadne muttered. “We’re dead,” that was defiantly an understatement.

~

After creating some flimsy explanation about Ari about feeling sick which he seemed to swallow, Jacobs let them go after a few minutes, but he went so far as to walk them to their next lesson, under the pretence of ‘having to go that way anyway’. After the excitement of the morning the rest of the day was uneventful, Arthurs late night homework rush meant he managed to hand in his essay on time, saving him from any reprimation or detentions.

He called Lisa during lunchtime, she sounded hung over and more than a little sick but she remembered about picking up Will, Arthur pretended he didn’t hear a male voice in the background swearing viciously at something. When he rang off it was with the pit in the bottom of his stomach that always formed when he spoke to her, Ari noticed his mood but didn’t ask, Arthur was incredibly thankful for that.

He went to see his guidance counsellor fourth period, she asked the same questions with the same worried expression that she had on every time Arthur visited her.

“Arthur are you alright? You look tired,” she asked, brow pinched in concern.

“Yes miss fine,” was his stock response to every question like that. She looked disappointed but she let it go. Arthur knew he looked like tired, he’d thought about resorting to make up in order to hide the growing dark circles under his eyes, more than that it was getting harder to hide the exhaustion from the people close to him, even Will had commented on it. She let him go, she seemed disheartened like the end of every session, he felt bad sometimes, letting her down but it was his life and no matter what anybody else though, he could handle everything.

At the end of school she kissed his cheek and gave his shoulder a squeeze, he returned what he hoped was a reassuring smile before she rushed off to meet her dad. The dinner was almost full up by the time he’d arrived, Frank was dashing around the kitchen doing ten things at once, the minute Arthur stepped in he began barking orders, poor Luke looked haggard.

From the moment Arthur started to the moment the dinner was near closing time Arthur was run off his feet without a break, the effects of a series of late nights was seeping in, he ended up splashing cold water on his face more than once. The end of the shift came as blessing, Arthur felt dead on his feet and must’ve looked it, since Frank pushed a black coffee into his hands.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, body feeling heavy and stiff.

Frank gave him the once over looking concerned. “You gonna be ok kid?”

“I’ll be fine,” he shot him a weak smile. “What about you old man? You’ve been here all day,” Frank waved his hand.

“You sound exactly like my daughter,” Frank muttered. “She insisted on coming to pick me up so we can have some ‘family time’”, his voice was gruff but he couldn’t hide the pleased expression threatening his face. Arthur wondered wistfully what that was like, having someone who would worry and pick you when you were exhausted, what ‘family time’ was like.

He finished his coffee and waved said goodbye to Frank and Luke who almost looked as bad as he felt. A chill had set in the last few day, when Arthur stepped outside his breath immediately swirled in the air, at least it woke him up a bit he thought as he jogged to catch the bus just pulling in. At this time of night there were only a few brave souls out, tonight, a woman who’d been the bus everyday his week and her baby who always sat near the back, a man two rows from the front was nose deep in a book and two teenage girls Arthur vaguely recognised from school had the seats right at the back and were giggling over their phones.

Arthur took a seat in the middle and pulled his hood up to indicate he wasn’t looking for conversation, not that anybody would be likely to. The bus pulled away and Arthur watched the building and street lights flit by, the gentle hum and motion of the bus was actually quite soothing, he caught bits and pieces of the conversation from the teenagers. Arthur’s eyes felt heavy, the exhaustion of the last few days rolled over him in waves, combined with the sounds around him, he felt himself sinking into blackness.

“Hey!”

A sharp shake jolted Arthur up, the bus driver was looking down at him with beady black eyes “Last stop kid, you gotta get off now” Arthur looked round in surprise, the bus was completely empty.

“I..umm..I,” he stammered panic filling him up, the bus driver raised an eyebrow looking at Arthur as if he was an idiot. “I’m sorry!” red with embarrassment he grabbed and darted out of the bus as quickly as he could. It was only once he was off the bus and halfway down the road before he looked around and realised he had no idea where he was.

“Shit!” he swore loudly. “Shit!” Arthur got out his phone, it was almost midnight! A text from Li flashed on his screen, for a minute Arthur felt relief thinking she’d noticed how long he’d been gone and was worried, but the relief disappeared once he read the text.

_‘Hey Artie :D You weren’t answering your phone, you must still be at the dinner or having some ‘fun’ for once ;) Anyway Shade’s having this party at his house, it’s meant to be brilliant! Will’s in bed I’ll leave the key under the plant pot, don’t wait up!_

_-Li xx”_

“Shit!” he yelled. The message was sent at 11:30pm, knowing Li she would’ve left by now, god Will was alone in the house, it didn’t matter if he was asleep or not! What if something happened, a fire or something like that, god it’s like she didn’t care that Will could get taken away! Actually it was more like the thought just didn’t occur to her! God he was so pissed at her, at himself for being and idiot and falling asleep! If something happened he’d never forgive himself! Will was so sweet, and that would disappear in care, god! Will was alone and it was his fault!

His face felt wet and it took Arthur a moment to realise that hot tears were spilling down his face, he wiped his cheeks roughly, despising himself for crying so easily. He needed to focus, he needed to get back to Will but first thing first he needed to figure out where the hell he was.

He looked around for a sign, anything, the only thing around him was a group of grungy block of apartments, he searched around for an indication of where in town the bus had taken him. Eventually he found a battered street sign with a substantial amount of graffiti covering it, he managed to make out ‘Stratton”.

“Shit!” he swore for the fourth time, Stratton block was famous in their town for being the roughest area, it was even worse than Arthur’s section. Any crime reported the officers immediately went to Stratton, the place had more stabbings than anywhere else, not to mention it was on the other side of town from Arthur’s house. Great he was trapped in the worst part of town, with no way to get back, that was the last and only bus that ran at this time of night. He searched his brain for someone who could help, Ari? She didn’t have a car and gone midnight would be dead to the world. Frank was at his daughters and Arthur didn’t have his mobile, Li didn’t have a car and it was very likely none of her friends would be in a sober enough state to help. That was it, there was no one else, he didn’t have any other friends apart from Ari, Frank, Li and Will and none of them could help him.

There was no one.

He didn’t have money for a taxi and he didn’t know any buses, hell he didn’t even know which direction to walk to get home, he was stuck.

A particularly cold wind decided to make the moment even more depressing by blowing at that point. Arthur shoved his hands into his jean pockets and shivered at the biting wind. Something poked his fingers, he pulled the offending item out to find Eames’ name and number staring back at him.

He couldn’t, could he?

Eames probably wasn’t even awake and even if he was he wouldn’t be too happy to have some kid he took pity on badgering him at such a late hour.

But at this point Arthur didn’t really have a lot of options...well he basically had two, wonder round aimlessly with the possibility of being stabbed in a dark alley, or risk embarrassment and rejection by calling Eames. He honestly considered the former.

What the hell did he have to lose? With shaking fingers he punched in the number, his thumb hovering over the call button for a few moments “Fuck it” he muttered and pushed the button.

The first few rings Arthur was crapping himself, sweating even in the freezing cold wing. When the third ring came around Arthur considered hanging up and just braving the walk, when the phone line crackled and a voice which still gave him goose bumps came through. “Hello?” Eames didn’t sound as if he’d been sleeping.

Arthur took a deep breath to calm his nerves, it didn’t work but still, good to try “Umm hi” he answered, wincing at how weak his voice sounded. “Look I don’t know if you remember me but I’m Arthur from Bates High School?”

There was a moment of silence where Arthur heart literally stopped until Eames voice came through again. “Hi Arthur, of course I remember,” he didn’t sound mad, or like he was thinking ‘why is this weirdo calling me at midnight?’

Arthur inhaled deeply again, before blurting out everything in one breath. “I’m so sorry I don’t even know why I’m doing this It’s only cause I have literally no other way to do this but I fell asleep on the bus and now I’m trapped miles away from my house and my nephew needs me and there’s no one else I can call and I’m sorry again if I’ve wasted your time or woken you up,” he tried his best to breathe normally.

There was another moment of silence and a rustle of something, that sounded like papers. “Arthur do you need a lift?”

Arthur closed his eyes, face burning with shame. “Yes...I’m sorry to have wasted your time,” he apologised weakly.

“Wait Arthur!” Eames interrupted. “I was just going to ask where you are, I’ll come get you right now.”

“Really,” the sick feeling that had been weighing in Arthur’s stomach suddenly eased and he released a breath of pure relief, unable to believe Eames had agreed but feeling such intense gratitude that he had. “Thank you, thank you so much! You have no idea,” he bit his tongue before he rambled on “I’m at Stratton Heights.”

He heard a sharp intake of breath from Eames’ end and the sound of something hitting the floor with a bang. “Stratton?! You’re in Stratton! Arthur stay in the shadows and whatever you do, don’t engage anyone I’ll be five minutes, don’t move!” he rang off before Arthur could launch into the litany of thank you’s on the tip of his tongue.

He actually could believe it when he slipped his phone back into his backpack, he was still stuck for a few minutes and Will was still on his own for the moment but things didn’t look as bleak as they had. He took Eames advice and moved into the shadows by the entrance to the flats, anxiously keeping a look out for people. The sound of voices was gradually getting closer and Arthur moved further into the shadows in response. A group of hard looking adults rounded the corner, a couple of which, Arthur recognised as Lisa’s friends from yesterday, the blue haired Mohican guy was there, with a bottle of vodka in one hand. They all had some alcohol which they passed around between them, giggling and laughing, they passed Arthur and he shrunk back, holding his breath. Nothing happened though and the group walked past without noticing Arthur, he left out a sigh of relief and stepped forward, a twig crunched nosily under him. The group turned around and obviously caught sight of Arthur hiding in the shadows.

“Ahhhh what have we got here then,” one of the guys, ginger with a taunting smirk grabbed Arthur’s collar before he could run and yanked him forwards into the group, who surrounded him like hyena’s. The blue Mohican guys eyes black eyes lit up in recognition.

“Hey,” he moved in front of Arthur. “it’s the buzz kill from yesterday, Lisa’s baby brother Artie,” the group snickered, Arthur tried to move but the ginger guy had a firm hold of his collar.

“He’s pretty,” one of the girls interjected, sizing Arthur up as if he was struggling prey.

Blue Mohican guy smirked, not like Ariadne did, this one was nasty he gripped Arthur’s chin roughly. “Yeah he is isn’t he,” he murmured eyeing Arthur in a way that made him feel physically ill. “We should all have some fun together, would you like that pretty thing?” Arthur couldn’t move his head with how blue Mohican was grasping his face, the other boy smirked again moving close to Arthur’s lips, laughing at how he tried to move away. “I wonder if you give as good head as your sister?” Arthur spat in his face, growling as another boy seized his arm.

Instead of being angry, blue Mohican looked pleased. “Ohhh pretty things got some spunk,” the punch came so quickly Arthur didn’t have time to react, it left him reeling and his vision blurred. “We’ll make sure to ‘deal’ with that,” he purred, running a finger over the cut on Arthur’s forehead, the burst of pain made Arthur hiss.

“Yeah we’ll have a good time,” the blonde sneered.

The blue haired boy nodded to the guy who had Arthur by the collar. “Zeke, come on, let’s have some fun with this pretty thing,” Fear burned through Arthur’s blood as the situation sunk in, he kicked and struggled as he was dragged backwards.

“Let me go you fuckers!” he screamed. The only answer was the groups cruel laughter. “Leave me alone! You bastards just let me go!”

A bright light blinded Arthur, he heard a slam but was still too busy trying to escape that he didn’t see the figure until he’d walked up to the group.

“Eames!” blue haired guy cried. “Welcome back man!” he stopped moving towards Eames when he saw the deadly look on his face, Eames looked like he wanted to kill something.

“Let him go,” there was no room for argument in Eames’ tone. Arthur felt a shiver of fear run down his spine at his voice and he wasn’t even the recipient.

The blue haired guy held his hands up. “Look Eames’ man, this pretty little thing stumbled onto our turf, we’re just going to teach him how to have a good time, you understand,” Eames took a threatening step towards blue hair.

“Let. Him. Go.” Blue hair took a step back, obviously unnerved. “Or do you want a repeat...”, he leaned in close to whisper the next part, whatever it was blue hair’s face went white.

“Enough of this shit, come on this guy ain’t worth it,” the blonde let out a grumble of protest but blue hair gave her a look that made her shut up quickly. The guy holding Arthur dropped him roughly and the group glared at Arthur as they left, scuttling away cackling.

Eames was immediately in front of him, hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Arthur focused on trying to get his heart beat to slow down, he shrugged off Eames’ hand. “Yeah I..I’m fine,” his voice sounded shaky to his own ears. The reality of what could’ve happened was fresh in his mind, he stuffed his hands in his pockets to stop the trembling, he hadn’t cried in front of strangers since he was a kid and he wasn’t about to know.

Eames looked unconvinced, he made no other move to touch Arthur but his eyes searched his face, Arthur didn’t want to see the pity in them so he turned to look at the street light next to them. Another cold gust of wind left his teeth chattering, his cheap hoodie was useless against the cold.

“Jesus Arthur you must be freezing,” he shucked off his leather coat and wrapped it around Arthur’s shoulders, he was going to protest, but the coat was so damn warm. “Come on, we better get you home,” Eames led Arthur to the car whose headlights were still on full beam, he even opened the door for Arthur ignoring his protests.

The car was a welcome relief to the cold, he unconsciously relaxed into the ridiculously comfortable seats, but the moment Eames got in the car the atmosphere grew heavy. Eames didn’t say anything but his grip on the wheel was white-knuckle tight, his face was pinched and tight, Arthur shrank down in his seat. Eames was pissed at him, he drove faster than was necessary, he probably just wanted Arthur out of the car, get away from the kid who dragged him out at midnight and had to rescue him.

“Where are you?” he asked stiffly.

“East end,” Arthur muttered, shame lacing his voice.

The tension radiating from Eames grew and grew until Arthur was so unhappy he couldn’t take it anymore. “I’m sorry,” he muttered. Eames seemed to snap out of whatever deep thought he’d been in and snapped his head to look at Arthur.

“Why are you sorry?” the tone of his voice took Arthur by surprise, Eames sounded shocked at Arthur’s apology which Arthur hadn’t been expecting.

“I..I..um I’m sorry..for all the trouble,” the astonishment on Eames’ face, made Arthur shuffle uncomfortably, he’d thought Eames would’ve been dismissive, not shocked.

“Arthur...” he took a deep breath, eyes closed briefly before answering, when he looked at Arthur again the heavy atmosphere dissipated. “...you have nothing to be sorry for.”

Arthur struggled, this was not going the way he expected. “But..I mean you were angry?” Eames shook his head in disbelief, annoyance flared in Arthur.

“Arthur, I’m not mad at you. I’m pissed at those guys back there! People who would do that are scum and I you have no idea how much I wanted to punch that guys lights out.” Eames’ voice was tight with anger. Despite that Arthur was incredibly relieved Eames didn’t see him as some kind of burden, that he wasn’t the reason for his anger.

“I’m all right,” he reassured him gently, rising up in his seat. “If you’d have hit them it would’ve just made things worse,” they might’ve not have walked out unscathed, drunk people were unpredictable its why Arthur dealing with more than one of them.

“I still wish I’d done it,” Eames muttered bitterly, the tension was seeping back into his shoulders, Arthur didn’t want him to get angry on his account.

“Thank you by the way,” he murmured softly. “For saving me,” the tension disappeared and Eames took his hand of the wheel for a moment and tentatively gave Arthur’s shoulder a squeeze.

“That’s ok,” he moved his hand back to the wheel, slowing down the speed as he did. “Just wish I’d gotten their sooner.”

“I wouldn’t have minded that too,” Arthur teased, the two shared a smile and Arthur finally relaxed again. The car ride was much more pleasant, even peaceful. Eames was the first to break the comfortable silence.

“Just a shot in the dark here,” he began hesitantly. “You wouldn’t happen to have a sister called Lisa would you?” A pit starting forming in the bottom of his stomach at the question. Lisa liked to party, and developed a reputation for it and certain...other things that. Her reputation had followed Arthur round in Freshman year until, after months of putting up with it, he’d snapped and punched some guy who called his sister a ‘slut’, they’d left him alone after that. But Arthur could just imagine Eames’ face distorting and then ditching Arthur as soon as he could.

“Yeah I’m her younger brother,” his tone was deliberately offensive, no matter how attractive this guy was if he said anything about his sister they’d have words.

To his surprise, Eames expression cleared with recognition. “I thought you looked familiar! I can defiantly see the resemblance now,” so that’s why Eames might’ve looked twice at him, cause he looked so much like Lisa. It was true they had the same lean and skinny build, sharp features and dark hair, for some reason figuring out the reason put a weight on his chest. There was still something about expression that seemed amiss but he seemed cheery enough.

“She was close with my sister for a while,” that must be Morgan he remembered Eames mentioning her in his presentation. “Does she still paint?” Arthur blinked in surprise, Eames must’ve taken it the wrong way since he turned a little red. “I..I only remember because she used to win all those shows we had at school,” he stammered eyes locked on the road.

“Not it’s not that,” Lisa had been good, really good but she hadn’t picked up a brush in years and they hadn’t brought it up in forever, even he’d forgotten about Li’s paintings. “No, um she doesn’t paint much anymore since she had my nephew.”

Eames did a double take, “Li’s a mom?!” he uttered in disbelief. “I thought you said something about having a nephew but I wasn’t sure.”

Arthur just nodded in response, Eames ran a hand through his hair, dislodging the slicked down locks. “Wow, sorry I just never pictured her in that role.”

“It was kind of a surprise thing,” he added awkwardly.

“So why isn’t you sister at home watching him?”

Arthur flushed a little at the implication in Eames’ tone. “She had to go to the hospital.....emergency,” the excuse sounded weak to his own ears.

Eames nodded. “I hope she’s ok,” again his voice told Arthur he knew he was lying, but thankfully he didn’t push instead changing the topic. “How olds’ your nephew?”

“Seven,” Arthur smiled proudly. “He’s really bright, and love to paint. The spitting image of Lisa,” He paused before breeching the question on his mind. “Do you have any kids?” he hoped his tone was nonchalant.

Eames huffed in amusement. “No, no kids here, it may have been on the cards before but not anympre,” Eames voice was wistful, Arthur sensed this was a sensitive topic. Eames again changed the conversation, something seemed amiss in his expression. “How’s your girlfriend?”

Arthur frowned confused. “Girlfriend?” Eames shuffled in his seat.

“Y’know the little one in the yellow scarf, Ariadne,” Ari! Eames thought Ari was his girlfriend! That was like saying he was dating his sister!

The expression on his face must’ve read the shock his internal monologue was feeling, because he looked taken aback. “Ariadne’s not my girlfriend,” he hurried to explain. “She’s just my friend, I’m not interested in her. At all,” he added with emphasis on the last part, he looked at the window, it had begun to rain. “Or any other girl,” the implication was there.

Eames frowned a moment before his expression cleared with understanding. “Ah,” Eames didn’t say much, but when Arthur turned to gage his reaction in case he needed to bail, the stiffness that had clouded his eyes was gone, and he seemed a little..pleased. “Boyfriend then?”

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Do you think there are many options at Bates?” Eames chuckled.

“I suppose not,” they lapsed into silence. Arthur didn’t read any sort of disapproval from Eames, he took the opportunity, since they were so close to his house to risk probing.

“So how long d’you think you’ll be staying in town?” Eames shrugged noncommittally, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I’m in no rush to go back let’s just put it that way,” he muttered. “Besides, I kind of miss this place, despite everything.”

“You are defiantly not staying in my part of town then,” Arthur deadpanned.

Eames chuckled. “It’s not that bad.”

Arthur raised his eyebrow at him. “Eames you do realise we’re basically in the ghetto,” Eames laughed in surprise, Arthur felt a flush of pleasure that he’d been able to make Eames laugh again.

“No one who lives in the ghetto could make it sound so posh,” he gave Arthur a wink. “And your wrong you know,” Arthur frowned in confusion before Eames clarified. “My hotel’s actually quite close to here, the Riverside?” Arthur’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Riverside?” he checked to make sure he’d heard right. “You’ve got those five star hotels uptown and you go for Riverside! Are you ill?!” Eames laughed again, nudging Arthur softly in the arm.

“Cheek,” Eames was grinning though. “I just prefer low key, those five star hotels are way too fancy, they make me nervous. Reminds me of my parent’s house.”

“Please don’t tell me you were a debutante,” their laughter filled the car, Arthur pointed out his house and Eames pulled into the sidewalk.

Now that the moment was here, Arthur was reluctant to leave the car. “Thanks for the lift and...everything,” he chuckled nervously, a thank you didn’t seem to cover it.

Eames gave Arthur’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, with Eames full attention the contact sent sparks through Arthur. “I’m glad you called,” Arthur’s heart gave a little jump. “I’d much rather you called for a lift than have you walk through Stratton, it’s not safe for someone your age.” At that Arthur heart sank, Eames saw him as a kid who needed rescuing, his charitably act for the day. He probably thought Arthur was this random dumb and immature teenager, who he happened to get stuck with at midnight. Plus there was the most important fact; that Eames was straight, that he’d just broken up with his girlfriend, who he’d been looking at having kids with.

Still that didn’t mean Arthur couldn’t dream.

He opened the door and stepped out onto the pavement, turning back to murmur a final ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’. Eames smile was soft, and his eyes were full of warmth when he said. “It was nice talking to you Arthur,” the other boy hoped in the darkness that Eames couldn’t see his blush and nodded quickly, holding Eames’ gaze for a second to long before closing the car door and stepping back.

Remembering the whole reason he’d been so desperate to get back home, Arthur rushed through the falling down wooden gate and too the door. True to her word Lisa had left the spare key under the door, Arthur had lost his a few months ago and they he hadn’t had the time to get another one made. As he worked the lock, he was confused by the hum of Eames’ engine indicating he had yet to leave when he realised that Eames was probably waiting to make sure he got in safely, and involuntarily smiled happily.

He jiggled the lock and it finally gave, he opened the door but before stepping through he turned to give Eames a wave to let him know that he was fine, Eames smiled and gave a small nod before pulling off. Arthur watched the car until it disappeared round the corner, it was only once he’d sighed crossing the threshold and closed the door, that he realised that he was still wearing Eames’ coat. It was a little big for him, hanging long on his sleeves and over his hips.

The house was dark, and slightly chilly, Arthur ducked into Will’s room to find him fast asleep, oblivious to the fact that he’d be in any danger. He sat down lightly on the end of Will’s bed, he really was the spitting image of Lisa, dark hair, big eyes with features that would probably sharpen over the years, he was so small as well. Arthur felt a surge of protectiveness and love as Will slept, his nephew needed him, and he defiantly wasn’t going anywhere whilst that was a factor, he would never abandon him.

Arthur sighed and ruffled Will’s dark mop of hair, and left his room as quietly as he’d come in. He tiptoed down the corridor to his own room and left the door slightly ajar in case Lisa needed him when she came home and collapsed heavily onto his bed.

He should get changed out of his work clothes, but he was too tired to care at that point. He closed his eyes, immediately feeling relief wash over him. He brought his hand to his face, the sleeve of Eames’ coat rubbed against his face, he could smell spice, leather and something that was just Eames, there was no other way of describing it. Arthur inhaled deeply, letting the scent fill his head as he succumbed to sleep.

\------

Something was poking Arthur’s forehead, hard. He batted the source of the irritation away and rolled over muttering, they didn’t give up though and this time they shook his shoulder.

“Arthur....Arthur,” a familiar voice called in his ear. “Arthur daddy, time to wake up,” Arthur grunted and blinked his eyes open lazily, squinting with the bright light...why was it so bright? He rolled back over and came face to face with Will, big eyes blinking confused.

“Arthur,” he poked Arthur’s shoulder. “You need to wake up, Lisa’s asleep and I the clock says my school’s already started, are we having a day off?” the words took a few minutes to sink in. What was Will talking about, and why was it so bright?

Then his brain registered. “Crap!” he leapt out of bed and sprinted to the clock in the kitchen, it read 10:45. “Crap!” he yelled again. He dashed back to his room, Will was standing in the middle looking more confused than ever, he was dressed though which was a small blessing.

“Listen Will, you need to eat your breakfast as fast as you can, we have to be out of here in ten minutes, ok?” he grabbed his school bag; the clothes he was wearing would have to do.

“I had my breakfast daddy Arthur,” Arthur span round to see Will’s toothy smile. “Lucky charms and orange juice at 8:05 like always. “Did I do good?” god Arthur loved his little nephew.

He ruffled Will’s hair. “You did great munchkin, you ready to go?” Will nodded happily. “Ok go wait on the porch. Remember don’t talk to strangers!” he called out in warning as Will rushed toward the door. For the second morning in a row Arthur ignored his growling stomach.

He looked in on Lisa, when she wasn’t in her room a cold silver of fear ran through him, he checked the living room, relieved to find her fast asleep on the couch. She was dressed same clothes as last night and Arthur could tell she was going to have one really bad hang over. He grabbed a couple of aspirins and a bottle of water from the fridge putting it down next to her. A multicoloured, faded old blanket covered their ancient couch; it belonged to their grandmother when she was a girl back in Italy. He pulled the top of it over Lisa, she didn’t stir, even when they were kids she’d always been the heavy sleeper.

Arthur took one last look at her before running to the front door, outside he grabbed Will’s hand and they ran as fast as they could to the bus stop. He scribbled a note for Will on the bus about him having a doctor’s appointment, and signed it Lisa. Didn’t matter the signatures didn’t really match, all of the school notes had be written and signed by Arthur, he’d even had to call in a few times after he and Ari perfected his ‘female tone’.

He walked Will to the gate and saw him off; by the time he got to school it was already nearly the end of second period. Arthur, he went straight to the bike sheds. A couple of the usual guys who cut class were there already passing a joint between them, they nodded at Arthur as he came round, and offered the joint to him, he shook his head and rested his body against the wall. For once November provided a slightly warmer day.

He checked his phone, there were eight messages, all from Ariadne along the vein of ‘Where are you?!’ He texted her back to meet him outside when second period was over.

He should’ve gotten something to eat before he left, at least it was almost break and he could share some of Ari’s food. He was getting thin, too thin, even he could admit that it was starting to show, and Ari and Frank had taken to passing him food at every opportunity.

Just for a few more years, then he could slow it down, work less hours and try college, Lisa may even get back on her feet.

He just had to keep telling himself that.

The shrill ring off the bell disturbed his piece, grudgingly he moved off the wall. Nodding goodbye to the pot guys he made his way straight to the patch of grass on the field that he and Ari reserved for the less chilly days.

She arrived a few minutes later; he sometimes forgot that someone that small could move so quickly. “Arthur,” she dumped herself down gracelessly beside him, wind wiping the curls in her hair across her face. “Where were you? I had to spend fifteen minutes with Jacobs insisting over and over again that you were sick!”

He felt a little guilty, but he just hadn’t had time to tell Ariadne that he’d be in late. “Sorry,” he apologised sincerely. “I slept through my alarm it was a total made rush this morning,” she cocked her head frowning, her stare made him feel scrutinized. “What?”

She bit her lip. “Arthur, I know I keep asking but...have you, been sleeping enough?” she asked, her voice was gentle but wary, as if she was dealing with a small child on the verge of a tantrum.

“Yes Ari, I’m fine. I just got back a little later than usual last night and must’ve just ignored my alarm. It happens y’know,” he shrugged it off. Ari looked entirely unconvinced but she let it go, for now at least. “By the way, you know how we’re great friends and friends share—“ she had passed him a sandwich before he was half way through the sentence. Arthur made to protest about the fact she’d given him her whole sandwich, but she brought another one out of her bag.

When Arthur raised an eyebrow she shrugged. “I figured you might not have eaten,” he really didn’t deserve a friend like her, when he said as much out loud she just gave him a weird look.

“We’re friends Arthur, it’s what they do, plus it took me all of five minutes y’know,” she chastised him lightly.

They relaxed on the grass, Ari complained to him about her parents over protectiveness, they never let her stay out past nine thirty on a school night and boys were a definite no-no. It wasn’t even about the boy thing it was about the fact they just didn’t trust her, or did trust her but not other people as they put it which was basically the same thing really!

He listened to her talk about how strict her parents were; it’s true they did hold the reins a little tight, but Ari was their only child and they also doted on her. He suspected it was also a guilt since Ari’s mother was a surgeon and her father a neurologist, which meant they didn’t have much time at home.

Still, as Ari went on about her parents it got him thinking about his own mother, he wondered where she was, what she was doing right now. When he was a kid he liked to think she was somewhere like New York, living in a glossy apartment in Manhattan, maybe she’d be this sleek business woman, with the ponytail slicked back and the elegant beige suit with pointed heels. A skinny mocha cappuccino in one hand and the latest phone in the other, striding through the elevators as everyone parted to let her through.

Or maybe she’d be the opposite, maybe she’d be this bohemian styled chick living in San Francisco, with a loft that was filled with canvases. Some of them painted with bright splashes of colour, some half done with just the hints of what could be, and some blank ready and waiting for a that first brush stroke. Maybe she had dreadlocks, or brightly coloured hair to reflect her paintings. She’d shop at flea markets and dollar stores because she loved things that were no longer loved themselves. She could pick up and take off whenever she wanted.

As a child Arthur used to go through dozens of possible scenarios that his mother could be in. He wasn’t an idiot though. When he got older he could admit that had just been a dumb exercise to make him feel better. His mother was probably miles away with a new family and new kids, hell she probably didn’t think about the family she’d had fourteen years ago. The thought probably occurred to her once or twice every few years as she held her new toddler on her knee.

He wondered if she thought that what she’d done was abandonment or whether she thought they were better off. Grandma refused to mention his mother after she’d left them, and whenever he’d brought it up with Lisa she’d just get upset and storm off. Grandma had dismissed him when he told her that he remembered when she’d left.

“How can you remember such a thing when you were just a little babe?” she’d mutter to herself over the stove or in front of the TV. He did though, even if it was patchy. Didn’t matter anymore now, after Grandma passed away and Lisa got pregnant, their mother became an absolutely taboo subject with Lisa.

The only thing they had in the house that was hers was a folded up and faded photo of when she was a teenager in her last year of high school. She had a bright smile on her face, dark, perfectly straight hair blowing slightly in the breeze. The tell-tale bump was already visible under her thin dark blue sweater. Lisa, little more than three months on, their mothers face was aglow with the hopes and possibilities that the future presented. The girl in that photo probably never envisioned she’d end up living with her mother for twenty two years, in a small house on the wrong side of town, the same town she’d been born in, the town she’d wanted so desperately to get away from.

“Arthur?” Ari whispered, breaking him out of the spell he was in, he realised at some point he’d closed his eyes, he had to blink the bright spots from his eyes. An apology was already on his tongue for zoning out on Ari, but he stopped when he saw the look on her face.

“You were thinking about her?” his silence was enough of a confirmation for her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think,” she murmured softly.

He shook his head, feeling guilty for putting a damper on things Arthur put on his best smile. “It’s fine, trust me,” his stomach gave a definite grumble, breaking the sombre mood and causing Ari to burst into fit of giggles. “Thanks for the sandwich,” he grinned taking a bite and feeling immediately better. “Chicken salad! Ariadne you are an angel,” he threw an arm around her shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” she muttered but her cheeks were flushed with the praise. It was always a relief to know that Ari had his back; she and Frank always kept an eye on him. Besides he had family, he had Lisa and Will, he also counted Ari and really asking for more would just be selfish.

“By the way...” Ari began, a curious tone to her voice. “..when did you get that jacket?” Arthur immediately blushed, dates on her calendar she’d forget the minute she looked away, but clothes and her memory was suddenly perfect.

“Oh..it’s just an um, piece I found when I was digging around the attic,” he stammered, please buy it, please buy it! He was so crap at lying to people he knew, strangers were mostly ok, but Ari and Lisa immediately saw straight through it with his nervous eyes flicking about everywhere.

Ari looked considerate. “It’s nice,” she concluded. “looks good on you.” she probably didn’t understand why that would make Arthur turn even redder. “I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before,” she mused, a small frown marking her face.

Arthur hurried to change the subject. “So, done anymore work on your story?” Students around them were starting to move back towards the school, they gathered up the stuff whilst Ari answered.

She sighed deeply. “No, I’m stuck at a crossroads. I was thinking of asking Eames for advice when he comes to the exhibit next week.”

Arthur’s chest gave an involuntary jump at Eames’ name, he just kept drilling the simple thought into his head _‘He’s an adult and he’s straight. He’s an adult and he’s straight’_ over and over again.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing him again,” she gushed. “He was so cool to answer all those questions, you wouldn’t believe Rachel’s face when I told her about it, she’s totally angling for him. I told her anything after a relationship that long would just be a rebound, but did she care? Not a single bit,” she winked at Arthur. “I bet you’d love to be his rebound.”

“Shut up!” he pushed her gently. “That’s not even...I mean he was alright...but...” the weird look Ari gave him was enough to tell him he was getting to touchy about it, he immediately stopped that train of thought. He did think this was a good time to fish for info though. “So what supposedly happened with this girlfriend of his?”

Ari immediately started at lightning speed, he never knew how she had such a memory for celebrity gossip. “Well you know the actress Tallulah Fischer?” he nodded. “Well they were supposed to be dating for like three years,” Arthur’s eyes widened.

He did a double take. “He dated Tallulah?!” Tallulah Fischer was supposed to be one of those famous up and coming actresses. He’d seen pictures of her in Lisa’s magazines, and on the ‘Thirty People to Watch Under Thirty’. She was the epitome of the blonde bombshell, perfect figure, hair everything! His heart kind of sunk with the knowledge that that’s the kind of person Eames would choose.

Ari grinned in response, she loved her gossip. “Yeah, they were really, really close, apparently he was planning to propose to her,” so that’s who Eames had been talking about kids with, maybe that’s why he needed a change, the whole life-turned-on-it’s-head person.

“What happened?” he pressed.

“No one knows for sure, one minute they were fine then the next they were just never together anymore, to be honest he kind of went all reclusive for a while. Rachel says our schools the first time I’ve seen him do a public appearance in weeks!” he raised an eyebrow at the news.

“I think Rachel may know too much,” she hit him in the arm but giggled muttering ‘cheek’. She gave him another weird look.

“I swear I’ve seen that jacket before,” the frown of concentration appeared again, and Arthur had a moment of panic.

“You probably just getting old,” he pointed to her forehead in mock concern. “Yep defiantly getting some wrinkles there.”

She laughed and pushed him off. “Asshole!” but she looped her arm with his in their familiar gesture. They strode back to the school, with a full stomach he was feeling better already, even if he did have to play at espionage for the rest of school to avoid Jacobs.

That proved harder than initially planned, he was beginning to think that Mr. Jacobs really did have clones roaming the halls. The third time Ari pushed Arthur behind a locker, or a bathroom door, and really she seemed way too excited by all this, Arthur had firmly decided that espionage work was not for him.

His thoughts, almost inevitably despite his determination drifted back to Eames. He’d been kind last night, helping Arthur when he didn’t have to bother with some random kid he only met for over an hour, now Arthur had his coat.

He wondered about what to do with it, for a wild moment he thought about just keeping it. Maybe the smell of Eames would cling to it and a few years time he could think wistfully back to the briefest moment when he thought he could have a chance with the writer Fredrick Eames.

No, that wouldn’t be right. Like he said, Eames had been kind to help Arthur, maybe the jacket was sentimental thing to him, or expensive. It was only polite of Arthur to give it back to him, he could go there after work...just to give him his jacket back. He would only see him for a few minutes and then turn his mind from the man forever.

It was only the polite thing to do, repaying him a little for the whole debacle last night. Right it was the polite thing.

Nothing at all to do with any kid of ulterior motive Arthur may or may not have regarding a desire to see a certain writer’s smile again.

~

Come near the end of his shift Arthur kept looking up at the clock, counting the minutes that went past, it had been a slow shift to begin with, now Arthur was sitting at the counter tapping his fingers impatiently.

Frank came over and passed him a plate of curly fries, when Arthur practically inhaled as he began to eat. “You got somewhere to be kid?” Frank inquired. Arthur looked up from his plate of chips, the question shown on his face. “You keep looking at the clock like it’s insulted your mother, I would guess you were just impatient from end of shift but y’all ain’t got that type of look.” Arthur paused before he grinned at Arthur, humour lighting up in his eyes. “Y’got a girl waiting?”

Arthur blushed at the question, in truth, Ari was the only person who knew about him, and that’s only caused she’d kissed him when they’d been playing spin the bottle at a party and guessed by it that he wasn’t into girls. He didn’t tell people because it was none of their business who Arthur wanted to date, but he hesitated on how to answer Frank, he chose the cowardly version of honesty.

“No, just a friend, I borrowed something from them and I just need to give it back,” Frank’s grin grew a few sizes.

“I can tell you kid that no one looks like that when they’re gonna meet a ‘friend’. I may be an old man but I was young and single once,” he smiled and rubbed the wedding ring on his finger. “You can early, on the condition you bring her round sometime,” yeah like that was ever likely to happen, guilt pooled in the pit of his stomach, he felt bad lying to Frank but it was too late to back track now.

“Thanks,” he took off his apron and hung it on the hook next to the kitchen doors, and unhooked Eames’ jacket. He should really carry it, but his excuse was the jacket was really warm, and he’d gotten attached to the coat in the short time he’d been in possession of it. He could always take it off when he got to Eames’ he assured himself as he pulled the jacket on, the smell of spice, leather and Eames filling his senses again, for the last time it seemed.

He called out a goodbye to Luke who looked a lot more settled and relaxed than he had a couple days ago, and made to walk out of the door. “Hey kid!” Franks voice caused him to stop midway through the door and turn.

“Yeah?” he answered, worried he’d messed something up. But Frank’s expression was kind.

“Nice to see you excited,” the unsaid ‘about anything’ hung in the air, implied but Frank had too much tack to say it.

Arthur smiled gratefully. “Thanks Frank,” he slipped out the door, a chill hitting cheeks when he stepped out of the pavement. He rubbed them and walked down the street to the bus stop. The bus driver raised an eyebrow at Arthur’s request of Riverside, he always got the same bus around the same time, almost everyday for the past year and a half, today counted as an adventure by Arthur’s standards, which was....kind of sad in a way.

The same woman with her baby was on today, this time the baby looked like it was being fussy, she held him in her arms and rocked him gently. He watched for a second, a pang of something like longing hit him like a ton of bricks, he blinked harshly when he felt hotness behind his eyes and sat down, face firmly on the road ahead.

He set his mind instead, on what he was going to say to Eames when he randomly turned up outside his hotel room, when he found out which one it was. God the guy was going to think he was some kind of stalker, maybe he’d think that Arthur stole the jacket on purpose to stalk him again. What if he was pissed and freaked out and slammed the door in Arthur’s face?

Then he pictured Eames immediately coming to get Arthur once he told he was stranded, the way he’d laughed with genuine amusement at Arthur’s smart ass comments, which usually worked as a way to deter people from him only made Eames laugh. Finally his smile, soft and kind, eyes that inspired trust and so often filled with warmth. Eames wouldn’t slam the door in Arthur’s face, if he was alarmed with Arthur returning his jacket, the worst he’d be was overly polite and stiff.

His phone beeped with a text, his heart sank when he saw it was room Lisa, then relaxed when he read. ‘ _Sick in bed, been throwing up all day! Defo staying in, could you bring medicine and some more vodka’ –Li xxx_

Something banged at the back of the bus and Arthur turned to see a baby bottle rolling down the bus, he grabbed the bottle before it kept rolling down the bus. He walked up to the woman he’d seen almost every day for the last week, but never really noticed. When Arthur gave the bottle back to her, the smile she gave him in return was radiant.

“Thank you,” she sighed gratefully. The woman was utterly beautiful there was no denying that, short brown curls hung around her face which was pale as alabaster, just a shade darker then Ari’s, they framed a pair of big blue eyes highlighted with black eyeliner.

The baby in her arms wriggled and gurgled in displeasure. She hushed it softly and took the bottle from Arthur’s outstretched hand. “Sorry, I don’t why he’s being so fussy tonight, this usually soothes him,” despite the desire to gracefully exit and go back to analysing the upcoming situation over and over again, curiosity took hold of Arthur at her statement.

“What’s ‘this’?”

She looked up from her baby at him, a sheepishly tilt to her lips, “The bus ride, it’s the only thing that really makes him sleep at night, I’ve tried cars, trains and everything else but nothing works like the bus.” he voice had a slight accent to it, which got stronger the more she talked.

He sat on the seat opposite her. “I never thought buses could be soothing.”

She grinned, it brought a mischievous glint into her eyes. “My husband and my eldest hate it; they feel like their missing out on something.”

“How many kids do you have?”

Her smile grew fond as she rocked the baby in her arms. “Two,” she answered looking down at the boy .“This is James, my baby and I have a little girl Phillipa, that’s all so far. We’re only here till tomorrow, visiting a friend of ours. I’m Malorie,” she held out her free hand.

Arthur smiled and took it. “Arthur.”

Malorie looked happy. “A pleasure to meet you Arthur. Thank you for rescuing James’ bottle.”

Arthur blushed. “It was no problem,” she looked amused at Arthur’s reaction. Malorie seemed like a kind woman; Arthur could see the gentle yet protective way that she held her baby in her arms, like she’d take on the world for him. He wondered if his mother had ever held him like that. Ever sang a lullaby, like Malorie was doing now, and rocked him gently.

The bus slowed to a stop and Malorie quickly stepped op, altering James’ position so his head was on her shoulder, she looked back to smile at Arthur again. “Nice meeting you Arthur,” he nodded.

“Same too you,” she looked at him a little inquisitively, her gaze flicking to his arms. Herer eyes seemed to widen then soften.

“Y’know Arthur,” she began. “I have a feeling we will see each other in the future. By the way, the jacket suits you,” she gave one last mischievous smile before rushing to the front of the bus and bidding goodbye to the driver, and disappearing.

That was odd.

He didn’t have much time think over it though as he recognised his stop coming up. He pressed the button and ducked out when the bus came to a standstill.

Riverside hotel was exactly what it said on the packet, it was hotel by the side of the river. It was their towns version of a travel lodge, lots of rooms and lots of people, easy to be anonymous. He stopped briefly outside the sliding doors and looked up at the various windows sticking out from the white washed brick, his nerves faltered slightly.

 _‘You’ve come this far’_ he reminded himself. It would be two minutes, knock on the door, give the jacket back, maybe exchanged a few pleasantries and then he would leave, simple. He strode through the door, shaky resolve filling him. The front desk area was filled was plastic fake plants, squishy purple chairs and little tables, even this late a few people were still sat up, a couple in hoodies and t-shirts but the majority where in suits with laptops and coffees.

He walked straight to the front desk, tightening the strap of his backpack over his shoulder. The woman behind the desk looked tired, she too had a coffee and the closer Arthur got he saw three discarded cups on her desk. Her blonde hair was scraped back into a tight ponytail, which flicked over her shoulder as she moved her head around, when Arthur approached a bright false smile – obviously perfected over years of practise – appeared on her face.

“Hey there, can I help you?” the false cheeriness also infected her voice.

“Hi, I was wondering if you knew the room number of Fredrick Eames?” she looked a little suspicious when she checked the computer, and for one moment Arthur panicked in case Eames was signed in under an alias. But after a few minutes she clicked on something and turned back to Arthur.

“It looks like Fredrick Eames is in room 267, is he expecting you?”

Arthur tried to sound authorative. “Yes he is,” from her raised eyebrow he guessed that she didn’t believe him, but she seemed too tired to care at that point.

“Third floor, the lift is just down there to the left,” she instructed. The moment she finished directing Arthur, the smile slipped and she her attention back to the glossy magazine on her desk. He moved down the corridor to a wooden door marked. ‘Stairs’.

Like the woman on the desk had said, the lift was at the bottom of the stairs. He stepped into the open doors. The time it took for the elevator to get to reach the third floor gave Arthur another minute to plan what he was going to say. He removed the jacket; reluctantly he had to admit, and folded it over his arm. He ran his fingers over the leather, feeling the smoothness of it, like butter over his finger tips.

He just had to play it cool, the elevator dinged when he reached the floor, he stepped out into the cream collared hallways. He found hotels always smelt of lemons and strong cleaning fluid. The doors flitted past ‘263’...‘264’.....‘265’.....’266’ he stopped in front of ‘267’ nerves wavering. He could run away now, the bus would come by soon, he could get and be home in half an hour and say goodnight to Will, work on his homework and go to bed for a few hours, he didn’t have to do this.

But he wanted to, he could see Eames one last time and then that would be it.

He took a deep breath to steel himself and knocked.

~                                                                                                                                                                                                     

For a long moment there was no reply and Arthur’s stomach dropped thinking Eames was out. Then there was a bang followed by a loud curse. After some stumbling on the other side and the sound of a lock clicking and the door was wrenched open.

Eames eyes were narrowed when he opened the door, Arthur wanted to step back but inside straightened up, when Eames focused on him however, a soft smile appeared on his face. “Arthur, hi.”

He looked drained, his hair was ruffled with some strands sticking up, there were shadows under his eyes and he had a five o’clock shadow. A white t-shirt was stretched across his chest, and sweatpants hung low over his hips. It was completely unfair that he was even hotter now.

He was aware his mouth was open when Eames smile grew slightly wider, his cheeks burned with embarrassment. “Ummm...coat,” he held the jacket out. “Yours,” Apparently the power of words was an allusive skill.

When Eames saw the jacket, his eyes light up. “Oh brilliant, I was wondering where I left it,” he took the jacket from Arthur’s outstretched hands. “Did you come all the way here just to give this back?” there was something odd about his voice but Arthur couldn’t tell exactly what.

Arthur was pretty sure his cheeks turned an even darker shade of red and nodded mutely, itching to get away before he made an embarrassment of himself. Eames expression turned fond as his hand reached towards his face, and for one moment he thought Eames was going to touch his cheek but at the last minute he his clapped his shoulder. “Thanks man,” Arthur hoped the disappointment didn’t show on his face. “Come on in,” he welcomed as he walked into his hotel room.

For a few seconds Arthur just stood there. This was not going the way he thought it would, Eames was supposed to say thanks and bye then part ways. The logical thing to do was politely say goodbye and then swiftly make his exit. However the logical part of his brain seemed to be disconnected to his legs, which after those few seconds followed Eames into the hotel room, closing the door behind him.

Inside Eames’ room was kind of messy, there were a few items of clothing lying on the floor and bottles were littered on the table in front of the couch surrounding a small laptop. It looked like he’d raided the mini-fridge, suddenly the off tone to Eames’ voice made sense as Arthur counted the empty bottles. Eames looked more than a little sheepish as he surveyed the room. “Sorry,” he rubbed his neck. “Cobb my Literary Agent keeps on at me to get an assistant.” He picks a few loose clothes off the floor. “Wasn’t expecting company and I just got some shitty news,” the closer Arthur he could see Eames’ eyes were a little glassy and he looked tired.

“Wanna talk about it?” he ventured. It was stupid but he wasn’t sure what else to say.

At first Eames laughed weakly running a hand across his face. “No and yes, god I don’t know...” he sighed into his hands, and sat down heavily on the couch. “I got a call from my ex.”

Arthur tentatively sat beside him, he wanted to reach out and comfort Eames who looked utterly miserable, but instead he asked. “Did she say anything to upset you?”

Eames huffed coldly. “No ‘she’ was perfect and composed as always, calm and controlled never showing any bloody emotion. Even when we were together despite three years every time we argued he’d always treat me like a child having a tantrum,” the question was out before Arthur could hold his tongue.

“He?” Eames didn’t look away from the wall in front of him, but he also didn’t correct Arthur. He let that information sink in for a second.

Eames breathed in deeply. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you that. Well I guess it’s out there now,” he gripped his hands in together.

“I thought you were dating Tallulah Fischer?” Eames shook his head, the shadows seemed more pronounced.

“That was what we told the media, Tallulah was a darling about it but then, she would’ve done anything for her brother,” Arthur’s was pretty sure his eyebrows were near his hairline.

“Robert Fischer’s gay?” Arthur had seen pictures of him in the paper, heir to the Fischer empire, prime to be one of the youngest CEO’s in history. The only reason he’d recognized Tallulah when Ari had mentioned her was because she’d been in a few of the photos with Robert. Nothing in any of the articles had indicated that Robert Fischer was anything but a player, a new girl on his arm every week. Well, this explained a few things at least.

“Oh no no no.” Eames shook his finger, words slurring and undercut with bitterness. “He’s not gay, ‘Robert Fischer can’t be gay, the heir to Fischer Corps is not gay Eames!’ I could never wrap my head around that. How he could love me and hate that fact at the same time.” The pain in Eames’ statement was like a stab in the chest, he looked completely raw.

“What happened?” Arthur asked softly.

Eames was still looking straight forward at the wall; from this angle Arthur could see the redness rimming his eyes. “I met him at one of those fancy parties they put on when you’ve got a book to sell. It was right after my first got published and I was nervous as hell, stumbling over my words and downing champagne. Then all of a sudden there’s a guy at my elbow telling me to ‘slow down, that’s not water your throwing back’. I turn to give him a piece of my mind and ended up spending the rest of the party with him, and that was it.”

He rubbed his hand across his face. “Three years later and one day everything’s fine, and the next evening I come home from dinner with my friends an hour early and he’s in bed with one of the women from his office.” For the look of sheer pain and humiliation that crossed Eames features Arthur couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted to hold Eames or punch Robert Fischer.

“What a bastard,” Arthur muttered. Eames chuckled but it was weak, he ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah well you can understand how it could be a considerable knock to ones confidence,” he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I always wondered why someone like Robert would be interested in me, he was always put together, so mature and sophisticated. Then there was me. When people looked at me I knew they saw ‘Charity Case’ stamped on my forehead.”

Sometimes I think Robert felt it too. I mean you should’ve seen this woman, big blond hair; obvious breast implants with these baby blue eyes and a figure that could only be bought. I’d seen her before, at one of Robert’s social gatherings. She was a private school, blue blood just like him and flawless in social situations, she and Robert are considered ‘The Perfect Couple’ so I hear. I sometimes think ‘no wonder he picked her when faced with my ugly mug’.”

Arthur couldn’t stand the self pity in Eames’ tone, the fact that any person would chose some silicone filled bimbo over someone who looked like Eames in the first place was confusing to him. But that they could hurt Eames and leave him so insecure after three years together with said silicone woman! Well, that was just plain cruel.

“If it helps at all,” he began slowly. “I’m kind of wishing Dante has a new level of inferno that’s reserved for your ex.” Eames looked at Arthur, eyes wide with surprise then his face started to crumble, for one horrible moment Arthur though he was going to cry, but then he suddenly burst out laughing.

It was a deep, rumbling laugh and after a minute Arthur began to giggle with how infectious it was. They laughed like crazy people for a minute, the sound ringing off the walls. Eventually Eames calmed down and wiped his eyes.

“I have no idea why I found that so funny,” he admitted with a sigh. He’d eyed Arthur oddly. “You’re just such a kid.”

Arthur frowned. “I’m not a kid! I’m more mature than you think,” Eames didn’t look like he believed him but Arthur ignored the other man. “Plus I work six to seven days a week, I balance it with school work, which by the way, I’m getting straight A’s and looking after the house, my nephew and my sister, I’m defiantly not a kid!” he declared annoyed.

Eames held up his hands in surrender “Oh I didn’t mean it like that darling,” his voice had taken on a soothing tone. Wait, did Eames just call him darling? “I just meant, well you’re so sweet. There’s no ulterior motive behind what you say, you’re just honest and open.”

Arthur frowned again, this time in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Eames looked at him a little sadly.

“When people get to a certain age they stop being open and sincere, they become jaded and bitter and it turns them into suspicious old men.”

Arthur smiled at him. “I don’t think your bitter and jaded, and you’re defiantly not old,” Eames cocked his head as if considering Arthur, his eyes running over his face.

“You really are so sweet,” he murmured softly. Just like that, the jokey and depressing mood was broken, replaced by something much heavier. Arthur’s smile disappeared as Eames’ hand moved, sometime during the conversation they’d gotten closer together, meeting in the middle of the couch. This time Eames’ hand didn’t defect to his shoulder as Arthur feared it would, Eames fingers tucked under his chin, and Arthur’s breath hitched as Eames’ thumb traced his bottom lip.

It was like time had frozen, everything around them disappeared. It was only the two of them and the point of contact sending shivers down his spine.

“You’re so sweet,” Eames repeated softly, he moved slowly closer, Arthur followed his eyes flicking down to Eames’ own lips which he wanted to kiss until they were red.

“You should go,” Eames murmured but he moved closer, eyes half lidded staring straight at where his thumb was brushing over the dip of Arthur’s bottom lip. Arthur nodded but didn’t move, his lungs felt like they had an iron bar restricting them. “You should really really go,” Eames whispered. Arthur could feels his breath against his lips, Eames thumb moved to sweep across Arthur’s cheek bones.

“Make me,” Arthur spoke softly against Eames’ lips a challenge lacing his words. That seemed to snap something inside Eames and his lips crashed against Arthur’s. It was rough, teeth furiously clacking together and Eames’ free hand around the back of Arthur’s neck, pulling him closer. Arthur had never had this. He’d never been the sole receiver of this kind of attention. He revelled in it, running his hands desperately across Eames’ body. When he scratched his nails through Eames’ hair, the other man growled and Arthur found himself being pushed down on the sofa, and Eames’ body on top of him stealing his breath with his kiss.

Arthur opened his legs instinctively and Eames moved in-between them, the movement brought their clothed erections together. Arthur groaned with the burst of white hot pleasure and arched his hips, desperate for the contact again, his nails clawed at Eames’ back, making him growl. Eames broke the kiss and Arthur made to let out a noise of displeasure which turned into a choked off moan as Eames lips trailed hotly down his neck, just above the dip of his shoulder to pay particular attention, sucking roughly at the spot.

Arthur wound his hands in Eames’ hair, pulling him in closer, gasping when Eames bit down on the sore spot. He wrenched Eames head back up to his lips and kissed him again, he was pretty sure his lips would be bruised the next day, but when Eames ran his tongue along the seam of his lips, Arthur opened without protest.

They wrestled for dominance for a moment; Arthur did it more out of principal before submitting and Eames’ tongue explore every inch of his mouth. The kiss made him greedy for more, feeling brave he slipped his hand under Eames’ shirt; the first touch of skin was like physical relief. Eames thrust particularly hard and Arthur scratched his nails down his back, moaning so loud he was would be surprised if the neighbours didn’t complain.

Eames pulled back to pull off his shirt, exposing the flat plane of his stomach, mapped by inky black tattoo’s and Arthur had never been more turned on in his life. He wrenched Eames back down to him, Eames chuckled but didn’t give Arthur want he wanted, instead, he pulled Arthur’s t-shirt and hoodie over his head.

Arthur’s hands got tangled in the arms, but when he tried to move to free himself Eames pushed him down, using the hoodie to hold Arthur’s hands above his head. He leaned over Arthur “Keep your arms there darling,” Arthur could only node mutely, his throat felt raw and scratchy. Eames grinned wickedly; his lips immediately went to the dip in Arthur’s collar bone, then down further latching on to Arthur’s nipple. He arched his back gasping at the electric sensation; he’d never really thought about nipples were erogenous, now he was beginning to think he had seriously been missing out.

Eames sucked and bit at the bud, whilst Arthur writhed under him, he kept his word not to move his arms but he wanted desperately to run his curl his fingers in Eames’ hair.

When Eames moved off Arthur let out an involuntary whine of protest, Eames chuckled against his skin kissing down Arthur’s stomach. As he moved down, Arthur realised that the little moans and gasps he’d been hearing were coming from him. When Eames unzipped his jeans Arthur began to get a little nervous, but then Eames mouthed his sharp hipbones and Arthur forgot about everything but that mouth.

He pulled Arthur’s jeans and underwear off in one smooth motion leaving him totally exposed, before Arthur could ask what he was going to do Eames took Arthur into his mouth. If Eames wasn’t going to get a noise complaint before he was defiantly going to get one now, as Arthur particularly screamed with pleasure. The was the first time anyone had done anything like this to him, he understood know why people talked about sex so much, why had he waited so long to do this?!

In the heat of the moment, Arthur forgot about his arms and wound his trapped hands in Eames’ hair, pleasure was building in the base of his spine, threatening to undo him. Then Eames pulled off, the sound it made was obscene and Arthur made a desperate noise of protest. Eames chuckled, crawling up Arthur’s body and kissing him deeply so Arthur could taste himself on Eames’ tongue, it was way more erotic than it should’ve been.

“Don’t worry darling,” he murmured when he pulled back. His thumb ran across Arthur’s parted, wet lips again. “I’m not done with you yet,” Arthur shivered and Eames smile grew.

His thumb was still pressed to Arthur’s lips, Arthur took it into his mouth and sucked greedily, never breaking eye contact with Eames. The other man’s eyes grew darker than Arthur thought possible, pupils blown wide. He yanked the hoodie of Arthurs hands and wound his arm under Arthur’s back to hoist him up. Arthur hooked his legs around Eames’ hips instinctively as he stood up taking Arthur with him.

They stumbled in the direction of what Arthur hoped was the bedroom, they took a little while to get there however as Arthur was pushed up against a number of surfaces, as they kissed furiously.

Eames dropped Eames ungracefully onto the sheets, Arthur scrambled up on his elbows to get a good view of Eames stripping his trousers off, his cock hung thick and heavy between his legs and Arthur’s mouth actually watered at the sight.

Eames lips twitched as he took in Arthur’s expression, he leaned over Arthur’s body and kissed his thoroughly, their two erections rubbing together, the naked contact was a billion times better.

Eames lips moved to Arthur’s ear, his breath stuttering “What do you want Arthur?” Arthur groaned as Eames’ wrapped a hand around their cocks “You’ve got to tell me what you want darling.”

“Fuck me.” Arthur breathed immediately. In any other situation Arthur would’ve felt embarrassed but he was too far gone at that point, all he could think was _more_ and _now_.

Eames huffed in amusement. “As you wish darling.”

He rooted around in the bedside cabinet, still moving his hand expertly up and down their erections, the friction itself was driving Arthur crazy. He was so focused on how good Eames hand was making him feel he didn’t notice the other man slicking up his finger, the first press at his entrance made him tense instinctively.

“Relax,” Eames whispered, his voice layered like honey. Eames rolled the condom on and put some of the lotion on his hand and stroked Arthur’s erection again until he calmed. Slowly Eames’ finger breeched his entrance. “Very good darling,” he praised working his finger in and out.

“God you’re tight,” he hissed.

It wasn’t painful, just a little strange; Arthur thought he could defiantly get used to it. He shifted his body slightly and that made Eames finger push against something, that had Arthur seeing stars and moaning loudly.

“Do that again,” he demanded. When Eames didn’t move for a second he whispered “Please,” Eames grinned and bore down on the spot until Arthur was writhing on the sheets. During his assault Eames added another finger and scissored them inside Arthur making him yell out in pleasure, and his hands tear the sheets.

He hoisted Arthur’s legs over his shoulder and when he added a third Arthur winced, he never thought he could be stretched this much but Eames just kept pressing on that spot and Arthur was lost to pleasure he’d never experienced before. “Please Eames,” Arthur begged. “Please just fuck me.” Eames growled removed his finger causing Arthur to whine in protest, but instead it was replaced by the head of Eames’ erection.

When Eames pushed in it did hurt, Arthur hissed with the pain, instinctively flinching away but Eames held fast, slowly filling him, inch by inch until he was completely inside Arthur. They both were still for a moment as Eames was buried as far as he could go in Arthur, who felt like he couldn’t breathe. But then Eames was there whispering filthy words and encouragement, Arthur could feel his arms trembling with the effort to keep still and breathed out deeply.

After a minute his body adjusted to Eames and he began to get impatient again “Move.” His voice was ragged and he wondered if he looked as utterly wrecked as he sounded. He just wanted Eames to fuck him so badly.

That confirmation was enough to make Eames pull his hips back and thrust in again gently, it still hurt, but on one stroke Eames hit that spot inside him again and he clawed at his back in an effort to get him to move god damnit!

All the careful control and restraint collapsed and Eames snapped his hip roughly, slamming into Arthur, his grunts audible over the sound of skin slapping on skin. Arthur was lost to it, he couldn’t focus on anything pleasure with an edge of pain making his head and dulling his other senses, when Eames reach down to jerk Arthur off matching the rhythm of his thrust it was almost too much.

He just sobbed and groaned and took it, hands twisting white knuckled in the sheets, he was faintly aware he was begging Eames for more, more of everything he arched and bucked his hips to try and get him even deeper.

The heat in the base off his spine built and built until he thought it was going to burn him up from the inside. Then he was arching completely of the bed actually screamingas his orgasm hit him like a ton of bricks, white bursting behind his eyelids. Eames thrust in a few more times, gripping Arthur’s hips hard enough to leave bruises before he growled as he came.

Eames collapsed on top of Arthur and the other boy welcomed the weight of him, he ran a hand through Eames’ sweat slicked hair the absolute high giving way to overwhelming exhaustion. He watched blearily as Eames rolled off him and disposed of the condom in a nearby bin. Eames disappeared for a moment and Arthur panicked, but he returned with a warm wash cloth. Arthur didn’t have the energy to protest when Eames cleaned up any mess, before dumping the cloth and moving back to Arthur. Eames drew the blankets over them and flung a hand over Arthur’s chest.

He probably should’ve left or text Lisa that he wasn’t coming home, but he rejected those ideas when the required moving away from the warmth of Eames’ body and his breath on the back of his neck. Arthur closed his eyes with the promise he would leave in an hour, and succumbed to a deep sleep.

~

Light streamed onto Arthur’s eyelids. The sensation was weird; his window was on the wrong side of the house to ever have the direct sun light in the morning. He rolled over; his bed seemed larger than he remembered. He stretched out his arms feeling more space and bed sheets. Then the events of the last night came flooding back in a rush and he jerked upright, eye wide.

The bed was empty and cold, the clock by the bed read 6:45 am. Arthur wrapped the sheet around his body and padded into the living room. After a quick exploration Arthur found the rest of the hotel room was completely deserted, Eames was nowhere to be found, he sat down on the sofa for a few minutes.

Maybe he was just a reception, a private phone call? Or maybe he just needed to run out to the shops and get something? Even he had to admit those excuses were weak, after ten minutes with Eames as a no show and the clock nearly at seven Arthur settled on the fact that Eames had just freaked out and run away.

At first Arthur was hurt, then he got angry. Eames came onto him not the other way around! He was the adult in this situation and he’d acted like a coward, freaking out and ditching him. Well screw Eames! He wasn’t going to hang around like an idiot.

Arthur snatched up his clothes, pulling them on roughly, cursing Eames every name he knew. Hot tears threatened to spill onto his cheeks, he wiped his eyes the back of his hand roughly, he was so pissed off he couldn’t stand it.

When he was dressed and he grabbed his bag and marched towards the door, intending to slam it behind him but at the last minute out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the leather jacket that started this whole situation. It was laid over the back of the sofa chairs, Eames must’ve put it there last night before everything happened.

Thinking to last night, the way he’d begged Eames to fuck him, how he’d moaned wantonly for him made his face burn in shame. They say your first time was supposed to be special or something like that, and whilst Arthur didn’t really go for that crap it still meant _something_ to him to have sex for the first time.

To Eames though it was probably nothing, he was one in a long line of fan boys Eames had probably slept with, the thought made his blood boil.

He couldn’t say what impulse made him do it, whether he was just pissed at Eames for leaving, or at himself for the amount of self pity that was circling him right now. Whatever it was Arthur muttered, “Fuck it” and grabbed the jacket off the back of the chair, leaving the hotel room with a firm slam of the door. Unfortunately it wasn’t really a slam since the hotel had one of those things that slows the door before it shuts, which made Arthur even more frustrated.

He took the stairs two at a time, just wanting to get as far away from this place and Eames as possible. At the front desk the girl from last night had been replaced by an older woman, thank god for small mercies at least.

He didn’t see Eames outside, or when he walked down the street to the bus stop, he meant what he said before he wasn’t going to wait around, he’d be late taking Will to school and Will was more important than Eames the coward.

He caught the bus back to the house, opening the door with the key under the plant pot. The minute he stepped through the door, he was nearly bowled over as Will threw his arms around his legs.

“Woah munchkin, what’s the matter?” Will looked up at Arthur, his big eyes blinking, he was all dressed but some of his buttons were mismatched. Arthur detached him and started redoing the buttons.

Will bit his lips. “You weren’t here, you’re always here,” he mumbled nervously.

Arthur felt a stab of guilt. “Sorry munchkin I was just round at Ariadne’s doing homework and it got so late I ended up staying over, y’know like you have sleepovers with Robbie?”

Will nodded, he cast his eyes down. “I thought you might be out like Lisa,” the look on Will’s face made Arthur’s heart shatter. “I thought maybe you’d left me,” he felt like such a bastard for lying to Will and for making him feel like Arthur would do that to him.

He wrapped him up into a tight hug, trying to make sure Will understood how much he loved him. “I’m never going to leave you munchkin, not now, not ever. I promise you,” Will wound his little arms round Arthur.

“Love you daddy Arthur,” Arthur pulled back, keeping his hands on Will’s shoulders.

“I told you munchkin I’m your uncle Arthur not your daddy,” he reminded him softly.

Will shook his head vigorously, eyes wide. “We learnt in school that your ‘real’ daddy is someone who does everything you do, your my real daddy.” The amount of love in Wills eyes and his easy, open smile, meant Arthur didn’t have the heart to correct him.

He stood up and ruffled Will’s hair. “I love you too munchkin, you know that right?” Will nodded happily, grinning his wide, gap-toothed smile.

“Families are honest with each other right daddy?” Arthur nodded. “Then you should probably have a shower before we go,” Arthur laughed with surprise.

“Alright munchkin, I’ll go have a quick shower and then we’ll go, have you had breakfast yet?” Will shook his head. “Alright, go and have some breakfast and I’ll be out in ten minutes.”

“Ok daddy,” Will dashed into the kitchen, and grabbed a bowl off the counter. Arthur walked down the hallway, stopping outside Lisa’s door; he got the surprise of his life when he looked in and she was up and partly dressed. She had a bra but no top on, Arthur averted his eyes but she usually walked around the house looking for things like that, more than once Arthur had to close the curtains to shield her from ogling neighbours.

“Oh so your finally home,” there was something off about Lisa’s tone, but Arthur was tired, angry and guilty all at once, and he just didn’t have time for one of her moods.

He leaned against the wall next to the door. “You’re up early. Feeling better?” she shrugged, fishing around her bed for something.

“Not really, I threw up last night and this morning, but Will came into my room and poked me till I got up. He started wobbling because you weren’t back yet, so someone had to take him to school. Pass me that jumper will you?” she pointed to the radiator; he restrained the urge to throw the jumper at her head. He passed it to her and she pulled it over her head.

She then turned to him, hands on her hips, dark hair flowing down her shoulders like an inky waterfall; it reminded Arthur of Eames’ tattoos. She raised an eyebrow when a silence followed. “Well?”

“Well what?” Arthur replied in confusion, Lisa scoffed and shook her head exasperatedly, it grinded on Arthur’s already fragile nerves.

“You know need your help in the mornings! We have a deal you do mornings and me or Mrs. Crenshaw babysit him till you get back. I get that you’re a teenager but maybe after you screw someone you can come home afterwards, you have a responsibility here,” Arthur’s flushed, coming from her that was so hypocritical he didn’t even know where to begin.

“I don’t go around screwing people,” he hissed.

Lisa wrinkled her nose. “Please Arthur, you practically reek of sex,” he turned an even darker shade of red, and crossed his arms. “By all means go out and get laid, but remember you have responsibilities to Will. He needs a positive male influence in his life, so just try not to fuck too many people and get a reputation,” she stated plainly, leaning down to the mirror to put a pair of silver earrings in.

Arthur bit back the response on the end of his tongue _Like you?_ He didn’t say that though. He wasn’t in a fit state to rationally deal with Lisa right now.

“I’m gonna take Will to school,” he replied through gritted teeth instead. Lisa straightened and flattened down her jumper - which was cut just above her belly button, showing her midriff - and her black leather mini skirt.

She picked up a bag and strode towards the door, how she could stay upright in heels that high he’d never know. “I’m off to meets some friends, I might be back this afternoon but I’d call the old Crenshaw bat,” she kissed him on the cheek and strutted through the door.

In that brief moment Arthur could smell the alcohol on her breath, either she’d started early, or she was she’d been at it at home last night, the idea that she’d could’ve been drinking around Will pissed Arthur off the most.

The door closed before he could pull her up on it, he shook his head to clear his head, he couldn’t focus on anyone but Will right now, he needed to get him to school. He went to the bathroom and striped off his old clothes, Arthur stepped under the hot spray. The shower peace of the shower gave way to thoughts about Eames, at first they were the same angry ones that he’d been thinking all the way home, but thoughts about Eames’s dumb face, led to thoughts about Eames’ lips, and those thoughts led to Arthur remembering those lips around his cock, liquefying his brain.

He turned the heat up so it was practically searing, and scrubbed hard at every place Eames touched, determined to wipe away the memory of his touch.

When he got out of the shower though and turned to the bathroom mirror he realised that plan had been useless, there were marks the size of hand prints dotted on his hip. Just above his hip bone a dark mark was blossoming and an even larger one was on his neck, obvious in comparison to his pale skin.

He ran his fingers over the mark on his neck, tracing the soreness. When he realised what he was doing he dropped his hand roughly. Arthur grabbed a towel and went into his room to get dressed, he also picked up some work he hadn’t been able to finish last night, he’d just have to do it during lunch period. When he stepped out he walked straight to Lisa’s room and grabbed some foundation from her make-up bag, he’d never been so thankful that he and his sister shared the same pale tone to their skin.

He dabbed some on his neck until the mark was completely invisible, Arthur smiled at his handy work, but at the same time a small, traitorous part of him missed the mark and it symbolised. That for one brief moment, he’d had Eames. Not something that would happen again, if this morning was any indication he reminded himself harshly and left Lisa’s room, shutting the door behind him.

Will was finished and waiting by the door when Arthur came out, he stuffed the work into his bag and slung the leather jacket over his shoulders. Though any reminder of the night before was still considered a bad thing in Arthur’s mind, he had to admit the jacket was really fucking warm.

By the time they got to Will’s school he was actually on time and Arthur only ended up being a few minutes late. When he walked in and sat down next to Ari she passed him a cupcake, he actually leaned over and hugged her, relieved to have someone who had his back.

She scoffed in mock irritation. “Seriously Arthur are going to be like this every time I give you food?” but she smiled, obviously pleased.

Arthur devoured the cupcake in a matter of seconds, whilst Ari watched on looking both impressed and just that little bit repulsed. “You seriously need to fatten up, else you’re going to be skinner than me in our prom photo’s,” he shuddered, prom had been the last thing on his mind, he was trying really, really hard to forget about it. Thank god it was months away.

When he said as much to Ari she rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Come on, we’ll hang out by the food table and make fun of the popular kids, whilst we wish we were them.”

Arthur grinned. “Well when you put it like that,” his phone buzzed in his pocket, it was an unknown number. Arthur frowned, nobody ever called him, he pressed the receive button and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello?” he asked cautiously.

“Arthur,” he froze at the sound of Eames’ voice on the other end of the line.

His mouth opened and closed like a fish. He couldn’t come unable to come up with a single syllable. “Arthur? Are you there?” God he loved the way Eames said his name, it sounded sexy when Eames said it, less like a librarian. He sounded rough though, his voice had a scratchy quality; that was the thing that stopped Arthur hanging up immediately.

He made to reply when the phone was yanked out of his grip, he looked up to snap at whoever had done it, but stopped short when he saw Mr. Jacobs raised eyebrow .“So glad to see your taking your education so seriously Mr Hansen,” he clicked the end call button, ignoring Arthur’s noise of protest. “Your social life will still be around at the end of the day Mr. Hansen when you collect your phone from my office.”

His stomach plummeted. “But sir—“

“After school Hansen, now if will humbly be permitted to return to my registration,” the class snickered as Jacobs returned to sit behind his desk, glasses drooping down his nose.

 _“Asshole”_ Arthur muttered under his breath. He was still in a state of shock, of all the things he’d expected to happen with Eames – namely that he’d just disappear from Arthur’s life as swiftly as he came into it – he never expected for the man to call him. Now worry began to knaw at his stomach, a part of him wanted to just be pissed at Eames and wallow in self pity about the whole situation, but another part of him wanted to hear what Eames had to say. That part of him...might like Eames a little bit.

All right that was bullshit, that part of him liked Eames a lot. The person he’d seen last night was different to the guarded persona Arthur had witnessed on stage, open and raw, he’d had his heart ripped up and stamped on by the sounds of it.

He was curious, he knew Robert Fischer from newspaper articles featuring him and his father. When calculus rolled around they were in the computer labs, it was one of the few lessons he and Ari didn’t share since he’d been put in advance placement a year ago. She had Economics during it, according to her to be a successful writer you had to understand the financial side of side of things to, they shared Business Studies for the exact same reason.

He logged onto the computer, the teacher was busy with another student who was having trouble entering in some equations, so Arthur took the opportunity to answer the questions buzzing in his head.

First of all he googled Fredrick Eames, the first hit he got was a Wikipedia page about Eames, he clicked on it, it felt a little creepy as if he felt like he was spying on Eames, it didn’t stop him though. His eyes widened when he saw the page, the guy had written six short stages and three novels and he’d won the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Awards for his second novel ‘Stranded’, and a bunch of other awards for his third ‘The Secret Life of Chameleons’. He’d even been nominated for a Pulitzer! Arthur seriously needed to read these books. Apparently ‘Stranded’ was in talks to be made into a movie, with Ryan Gosling for Christ’s sake. No wonder Eames had run out on him, why would a famous writer be interest in some school kid from a small town. The picture on the page was of Eames on the red carpet for god’s sake!

He went back to google and scrolled down, there were a number of fan sites dedicated to Eames, as well as some news pages. He clicked on one of the fan sites, it was mostly filled with pictures of Eames; apparently he wasn’t the only one who’d recognised Eames had really nice arms.

He checked some of the other sites, one was about Eames and Tallulah. Them on the red carpet at premiers, award ceremonies and out together, on the surface they really did look good together, but Arthur could see the stiff smile, and the guarded expression in his eyes, the way the just seemed so practised together. Comments were on the vein of how cute they were together and how jealous they were of Tallulah, he went back to the wiki page.

It continually surprised Arthur how a person’s entire life could be found on the internet and summed up with a few paragraphs. Apparently, Eames and his sister had been born in England but went to live with their uncle in America when they were fourteen, it listed the man’s name, Arthur recognised him as the local mechanic.

It didn’t say much about his life, just that his parents were considered wealthy and that he was implied to be in a relationship with Tallulah Riley that expired about a month ago.

He clicked on Tallulah’s wiki, pretty standard for an actress. She had a much more descriptive account of her life growing up as an heiress, moving away from the family business to Hollywood blockbusters. There was also a page for Robert, Arthur hesitated before clicking it. The page made Arthur feel even more intimidated, top of his class at Princeton and one of the youngest CEO’s in the country.

When he looked for images he found Eames was defiantly right in his description of Rob being put together. Almost every image was him wearing a suit with him looking immaculate, it was like the guy had someone following him to brush his suit between camera flashes.

To some he was probably handsome, if you like that sort of thing, blue eyes and sharp cheek bones with the perfectly styled hair. He almost resembled a James Bond like character, Arthur found his face way too smug and arrogant to like.

There was one photo were he wasn’t dressed to the nines, he and Eames were together in a photo, obviously as a request from the photographer. But Arthur could see the way Eames’ hand rested against Robert’s lower back - not obvious if you weren’t looking – and the way he looked at Robert with genuine affection, grinning broadly. It made him even more antagonistic towards Robert Fischer, how he could possess that much affection from another and throw it away.

The more recent photo’s were of him and a blonde woman, maybe she was the woman Eames described, she didn’t hold a candle to Eames.

 _Doesn’t mean I’m not still pissed at him though_ he reminded himself. But he clicked on Fredrick Eames google images. There was one, obviously from one of those social media sights of Eames on the sofa’ an arm around a girl with long mahogany coloured hair, with gentle curls that spilled down her shoulders. He thought for a moment she was another ‘girlfriend’, when he noticed the similar cheekbones and facial features, this must be his sister Morgan.

A big dog was in the middle of them, licking Eames’ face, he looked happy, young. For some reason that made Arthur’s chest ache. He rubbed the sleeve of the leather jacket, a scent still clung to it.

This was all getting a little too much, Arthur immediately closed the webpage’s and focused his mind on the equations he was supposed to be doing. Every so often though his thoughts would drift back to Eames, the way he seemed so guarded around people, as if he expected them to jump at him.

What made him like that he wondered?

The information also served to remind Arthur that Eames was an adult and a famous writer and Arthur was a teenager who treasured his calculus book more than any other possession.

But still...Eames had called. Probably to tell Arthur that the night before was a mistake, but a tiny part of Arthur hoped that maybe it was something else.

That thought, as annoyed as it made him, had Arthur rushing to Jacobs office at the end of the day. When he saw Arthur barrelling in, the guy looked even less inclined to give Arthur his phone back. He did however, after a ten minute lecture on the evils of the mobile phone and how it detracted from decent education, he begrudgingly handed Arthur his phone back.

The moment Arthur left Jacobs office he slipped into the nearest bathroom, after checking all of the stalls were empty he pressed the button for Eames’ number. The phone rang once, twice, three times on the sixth Arthur was beginning to berate himself when the phone clicked “Hello?” Eames voice sounded out of breath, like he’d been running.

Any residual anger dulled at the sound of Eames voice. “Hi,” Arthur breathed. “It’s....it’s Arthur,” he winced at how shaky his voice sounded.

There was an inhale on the other end. “Arthur hi, how are you?”

Arthur shuffled. “I’m um...I’m ok” he replied.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Eames cursed. “God, look could we maybe meet up and talk?” There was an edge of desperation to his voice, maybe he was just worried Arthur would do something like go around telling everyone, the thought renewed his anger.

“We’re talking now,” he replied stiffly. There was a grunt of frustration on the other end of the line.

“Arthur this is not a conversation to be having on the phone,” his voice was firm this time, chastising Arthur as if he was a small child.

“I’m busy,” he shot back.

Eames sighed again, still sounding edgy. “Arthur—“

“I work remember,” he interrupted harshly. “I can’t afford not to,” Arthur added for effect.

“When do you get off?” God this guy did not quit.

“I don’t finish until ten.”

“I’ll pick you up,” Eames replied immediately. Arthur went rigid in annoyance

“I don’t need you to pick me up,” he gritted out.

“Arthur, please, just please can I just pick you up?” he sounded tired; Arthur had the unexplainable urge to make him laugh.

He ignored it, but Arthur felt himself cave anyway “Alright” he sighed “You know Franks Dinner on fifth?”

“Yeah.”

“Meet me outside at ten,” Eames made a noise of confirmation. Arthur interrupted him before he could hang up.

“Eames!” the rustling at the end of the phone stopped.

“Yes?” Eames replied cautiously.

“I didn’t hang up before,” he couldn’t explain why it was important Eames knew that, he just had to make sure he did. “I got caught with a phone by Jacobs and he took the liberty of hanging up for me,” he heard Eames chuckle. Some of the tension bled out of the conversation.

“I know, I heard,” Arthur smiled despite himself.

“I’ll um, well I’ll see you tonight,” he winced at how awkward his voice sounded.

Eames breathed deeply. “Yeah, I’ll see you,” Arthur rang off, wondering if he’d made a big mistake.

He didn’t get much time to dwell on his decision though, it was his turn to pick up Will. He caught the bus before it left and got off at Will’s school, he was sitting on one of the benches, leg swinging. The moment he caught sight of Arthur his face lit up with a huge grin and he raced across the playground to Arthur, almost knocking him over.

“Arthur look!” he bounced up and down with excitement, waving around a mustard yellow rectangle piece of paper in front of Arthur’s face. He took it and read the page. “I got top marks on my times tables, so Mrs. Altman gave me a certificate!” he puffed happily.

Pride swelled in Arthur’s chest, he picked Will up and swung him round whilst the little boy giggled happily.

“Arthur?” that voice almost caused him to drop Will in surprise. He span round and the gawped in absolute disbelief. Eames was standing there, hands in his pockets, a frown on his face until he saw Arthur and then he looked completely taken aback.

Will tugged on Arthur’s sleeve, he’d timidly retreated behind Arthur, he’d always been wary of strangers. “Daddy Arthur whose that man?” Eames gives him a look at the ‘Daddy Arthur’ but Arthur shakes his head and Eames seems to get the message.

He ruffles Will’s hair soothingly with his free hand. “Just someone from school,” he reassures him. He hates lying to Will, but explain the truth would be really hard to a kid his age.

“Hi there,” Eames wiggles his fingers at Will and gives him his most charming smile. Will moves a tiny bit from outside Arthur’s legs and nods with those big eyes of his. Eames kneels down so he’s closer to Will’s height. “My names Eames, Arthur’s told me a lot about you. Is it true that you love to paint?”

Will grins and shuffles shyly, ducking his head nodding.

Arthur nudges his shoulder slightly. “Will why don’t you go play with Jeanie for a bit while Mr Eames and I talk?”

“Kay,” he nods, stepping out fully from behind Arthur. “Bye Mr Eames,” he waves before running off in the direction of the red headed girl.

As soon as Will is out of ear shot Arthur glares at Eames, immediately on the defensive. “What?”

“Nice jacket,” crap. He shucked off the leather coat quickly, red faced with embarrassment, this must be what it’s like to run into an ex. Crappy soap opera said it would go something like this, although they also usually involved in a dramatic shooting or water in someone’s face because they slept with the others sister.

“Why are you here,” he asked. “I thought we agreed to meet after I’d finished word,” he continued, unable to keep the suspicion out his voice. Looking someone up on the internet was a little creepy, stalking was a lot creepy.

Eames rolled his eyes at Arthur’s tone. “I run a programme here Arthur, I’m not following you around.” Arthur blushed in embarrassment, wrapping his arms around himself. Despite everything, Eames looked really hot today, he was wearing this horrendous jumper that clung to his muscles, and odd trousers, they would’ve look odd on someone else, however they, for some reason make him more attractive.

“You run a programme for little kids? About what, how to get crayon drawings published?”

The corner of Eames’ mouth twitches involuntarily, but it’s replaced with his previous stony look. “I come to talk to the slightly older one about becoming writers and the possibilities involved,” of course he had to work with small children too, because he wasn’t nice enough already.

“Hey I should be the one with the moral high ground here!” he remarks. He felt a stab of self satisfaction at the look on Eames’ face.

He sighs and rubs his face. “Perhaps we should go somewhere more private?”

“I have to take Will home,” he bristled.

“I’ll drive you,” he replies back immediately. Arthur racks his brain for a reason how to avoid it.

“You offer that a lot, you ‘drive’ guys home a lot,” putting suggestion on the guys. Eames rolls his eyes as if Arthur was a silly child throwing a tantrum.

“Dolores!” He calls over one of the teachers with large round rimmed glasses, and a long dark brown braid in her hair, she comes over beaming at Eames. “Would you mind keeping an eye on Will Hansen whilst his brother and I have a chat quickly?”

She nods, twisting her braid around her finger. “Oh sure no problem Mr. Eames,” she giggles. He smiles at her charmingly, Arthur rolls his eyes at how clichéd it is.

“Are you coming or not?” he asks, annoyed. Striding off before Eames can answer, leaving a taken back teacher behind him.

He goes through the glass double doors, inside was much like their own school except brightly painted with primary colours and pictures dotted along the wall from art class and some of the students. Halfway down the corridor Eames catches up to him, he radiates frustration and tension but doesn’t comment as Arthur leads them down the winding corridors to the school’s library. Arthur can smell Eames’ cologne from here, it was the same as last night he had a flashback to the night before, Eames mouth crashing against. He shook his head viscously and walked faster into the library. It seemed appropriate for them.

Arthur span on his heels, body defensive and arms crossed across his chest. Eames looks around curiously at the completely empty library.

“A library really?” Eames questions, eyebrow raised.

Arthur shrugs. “You’d be surprised, the amount of stuff on computers now, libraries are almost pretty much dead.”

“I hate that,” Eames remarks with a mixture of annoyance and frustration.

Arthur nods. “Me too, but it helps us,” he fixes Eames with what he hopes is a hard stare, wishing he wasn’t so attracted to the man in front of him. “Alright I think we were at the fact I should be the one with the moral high ground and throwing books at you.”

He looks around the room. “Yes, perhaps it was a mistake to give you ammunition.”

Arthur’s nerves were already frayed, it’d been a really weird couple of days. All he wanted to do was get Will home and go to work where he could turn his brain off and focus on something other than the man in front of him. “What do you want Eames, I may be seventeen but even I know an empty bed the next morning is a clear enough message.”

“Fuck,” Eames whispers, his shirt is crumpled and some of the buttons are done up wrong. The dark circles under his eyes have only grown and they’re a little bloodshot. _Good_. “Arthur I...I just wanted to apologise.”

Arthur’s stomach feels like it’s been cut open and filled with stones, the apology makes his skin feel dirty all over again. “Please don’t,” he meant to say it clearly but it comes out as a pleading whisper.

“No I have to,” Eames persists. He bites his lips, clearly searching his mind for the right words to say, not that there really are in this situation, how much easier life would be if it came with a script for the difficult conversations. “I was extremely drunk and upset about my personal life and I was just so in appropriate. I should _never_ have pushed you like that, it was completely wrong of me and I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to report me.” Despite his words, Arthur can see the fear rise up in his eyes with the last statement. To be honest it hadn’t crossed his mind, something like this could destroy Eames’ career and probably his life, Arthur was pissed at him but Eames wasn’t a bad person and didn’t deserve that.

“I’m not going to report you Eames, in case you don’t remember it was consensual,” he reassures the other man. A little tension leave the others mans shoulders, but his posture is still rigid and there’s remorse scrawled across his face. “Plus it’s not like it’s my first time,” he lies, he’s gotten good at doing that lately. Something flashes across Eames’ eyes, but it’s gone in a second, masked by that look of shame again.

“It was still me taking advantage of you,” he continues. Arthur rolls his eyes, thoroughly reaching the end of his tether with this entire situation, he didn’t want an apology, he just wanted this awkward situation to be over so he could move on.

“Eames please stop talking or I’ll waste a perfectly good copy of ‘Dune’ by throwing it at your head.” The corner of Eames’ mouth twitched up and the heavy atmosphere was lifted slightly. He was compelled though to ask the one question that had been circling round his brain. “Just answer me one thing. Why’d you leave? It wasn’t that bad was it?” He jokes but his throat catches midway through.

Eames eyes go comically wide and he seem s to forget himself for a second putting a hand on Arthur’s shoulder and staring at him intensely. “No, god no. Darli-, Arthur. It wasn’t because of you, your bloody brilliant. Sorry that was inappropriate.” He apologises, running his fingers through his hair and mussing it up even more. “It’s just, when I woke up and saw you, well at first it was a good thing, right up until the moment I remember that I’d taken advantage of a minor and could go to jail I went up to the roof for a cigarette.”

“You were gone for more than twenty minutes,” he reminds him, eyes narrowed sharply.

Eames rubs his neck. “It may have been more like three cigarettes,” he admits guiltily. “When I came down you were gone and thought you’d realised you’d made a huge mistake and left.”

“And it took you over an hour check?” He asks scathingly, arms still crossed defensively across his chest.

“I was gathering courage,” he admitted shame faced. “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been a little relieved, but mostly I felt like a dirty, sleazy old man and I was sure the police would be knocking at my door.”

Arthur shuffled, toeing the carpet with his foot. “You obviously don’t know me very well,” he mumbles, keeping his eyes on his feet.

“No,” Eames sighs above him. “Which is a shame, I think we could’ve been friends.”

Arthur frowns. “Why couldn’t we be friends?” he asks.

Eames sighs as if Arthur is a petulant child pestering for sweets. “It wouldn’t be right,” he explains slowly.

“Why?” Arthur persists, unwilling to let Eames just bail like he had before, at least without a reasonable explanation.

Eames growls in frustration. “Because, you don’t need an old man like me for a friend, you should be hanging out at the mall, or playing basketball in the park, or whatever the hell typical American teenagers do nowadays...” He trails off, seeming to run out of reasons. Arthur rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to tell Eames exactly what he thought of that when Eames phone started buzzing.

“Shit,” he mutters, rummaging around in the pocket of his, very nicely fitting jeans. Arthur frowned, he recognised the song from somewhere.

“Is that, Dolly Parton?” he asked incredulously.

Eames didn’t look up from the screen to reply. “She’s a top lady, I will have nothing bad said about Miss Parton.”

“Nine to Five though? Really?” Eames actually grins at that.

“Seemed appropriate at the time,” he muttered, amused. “Crap, Dom keeps on about this damn assistant.” An idea formed in Arthur’s head, once the thought was born it spread like a wild fire until he couldn’t hold back the question from his lips.

“I could be your assistant,” the moment he says it though Eames’ head snaps up so fast Arthur surprised it didn’t hurt himself. Eyes narrowed he pockets the phone and crosses his own arms.

“No Arthur,” frustration bubbled up in Arthur’s chest.

“Why not?!” This was a great idea, a second job would bring in more money, plus if he was Eames assistant he could cut back at the restaurant and be able to spend more time with Will. Plus work experience with a celebratory would look awesome on his resume, so the literary world wasn’t exactly Arthur’s forte it still couldn’t hurt.

Eames clearly didn’t seem to agree though because he was currently glaring at the suggestion, shoulders rigid with tension again. “Arthur, I am not hiring a seventeen year old as my assistant. I don’t even want an assistant,” he replies annoyance and frustration filling his voice.

“But it’s a brilliant idea,” he argues, his stubborn streak willing him not to give up. “I’m really good at organising and it would give me some great work experience to put on resume, working for a celebrity could seriously increase my chances of getting into a descent college.” Eames still looks unconvinced, arms crossing across his chest and an doubtful eyebrow raised.

“Please Eames,” he continues. “Look If your schedule is as much as a shitty mess as your room was you obviously need someone to help out, come one I organise my little brother everyday, make sure he gets up and ready for school, breakfast, clean and tidy homework, fed, bedtime stories,” he rattles off his fingers. “Plus I help Lisa, make sure she gets home ok, that she’s alright in the morning and I take care of all the things around the house. I can do this, ask any of my teachers for a reference I guarantee they’d agree!”

Eames rolls his eyes at the statement. “Sure and they won’t be asking why I’m employing you.”

“It’d be work experience,” he reminds him eagerly, plan forming in his mind. “They know you at the school it’d wouldn’t be like a strange author asking for work experience, your known and well liked here,” he points out. “Plus, Mr. Saito, our Vice Principal will be ecstatic. He argues that I need more practise in the business world.”

Eames’ still looks unimpressed but his stance wavers, and he sees a flicker of agreement in Eames’ face. “Just for a week, a one week trial run and if your still not happy then you can fire me and we never have to see each other again.” A silence hangs after the statement, but he can feel Eames’ resolve crumbling and even Arthur can tell that he’s making some sort of sense. It’s the best of both worlds, Arthur gets experience and being close to Eames is never a bad thing, and Eames gets an assistant.

“Well,” he says into the silence, nerves fluttering in his stomach. “What’d you say?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Hope you liked it so far.


End file.
